


they're in the little things

by jjakbbam



Series: fireworks in my head [1]
Category: HOTSHOT (Band), JBJ (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, college AU?, minor 2dong and kenggyun and hosan, platonic (?) hatae, shape of you team - Freeform, theres a LOT of minor characters i didnt list anymore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 01:41:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14885226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjakbbam/pseuds/jjakbbam
Summary: "I'm a dance major taking a composition class. I just made this song and I need someone to sing it."The boy blinks before saying, "I'm a music major taking a dance class, and I don't dance."Taehyun briefly wonders why the boy is taking a dance class when he doesn’t dance, but he pushes the thought out of his mind and clears his throat. It’s probably the same thing as him taking a composition class when he doesn’t really compose.





	they're in the little things

**Author's Note:**

> this has been in my writing drafts for almost half a year now and its almost 30k words of a whole unedited unbeta-ed fic.  
> hopefully i'll get around to editing it asap so please do understand any typos and mistakes you see, thanks

**Phase: New Moon**

 

 

Taehyun can get through this. If he survived a composition finals once, he can survive it again.

The only difference now compared to Taehyun's junior year combined music theory and composition class is that his trustworthy friend from the music department just graduated. Junhyuk has apologetically told him that he is way too busy with his first job after graduating college as a vocal coach to find time to meet up with Taehyun and record his song for him.

It's a shame, really. Taehyun's beats has always suited Junhyuk's voice the most. Everything he composed has always been very fitting for Junhyuk's voice.

Taehyun would ask his high school friends San or Hojung since they both have okay voices and _it's not the vocals that's going to be graded in your finals, it's the composition of the song itself,_ according to his professor but San told him he was busy memorizing his lines for an extracurricular musical, and Hojung just downright said no faster than Taehyun could ask him anything. Hojung had quickly apologized and slapped his arm, then told him that he's too busy catching up on his grades and forcing them to go up to help Taehyun with his.

 _"We're all busy, Taehyun. Just sing the song yourself. You sing it for the demo anyway, it's the same process."_ Hojung had told him, but Taehyun had ruled that decision out after junior year. He tried recording his song himself before he asked Junhyuk to do it, and he basically gave himself hell redoing the song over and over again because he felt like it was terrible. All he can do is the demo version before he asks someone else to record it for him and that's the one he'll be passing to his professor.

So, no, he's not going through a rerun of that disastrous composition finals where he tried singing his own song. He still has his thesis dance to worry about. He hasn't done anything for his thesis yet, and he's already looking for someone to sing a finished song. He'd say the song can wait but from the way he's sitting inside a composition studio on his own and spinning himself around in his chair and racking his head for possible people to loop in his finals while staring at the ceiling, the song, apparently, cannot wait.

It's his last term. He just wants to graduate.

With that thought, he should _really_ get started on his thesis.

 

 

The problem of being in an arts school is that half the people are on scholarships, and they're all busy as hell with non-stop practicing. It's hard to book practice rooms in the middle of the term  because everyone is starting to focus on the finals showcase, and there are some vocal majors who take charge of all the second floor practice studios for whatever reason, when there are unbooked soundproof rooms everywhere on the third floor.

Frankly, it's those music students that piss off Taehyun the most. They're the reasons why Taehyun ends up dancing in the open courtyard on a late Monday morning, with his two junior roommates sitting on the grass underneath a tree and watching him dance freestyle to random songs in the direction of the sun because they have a free period and apparently nothing better to do in the middle of spring.

"What are you doing, Taehyunie?" Kenta, a Japanese transferee for the past three years (although he said during his first term he'd only stay for one semester), asks, blinking up at him and using the back of his hand to cover his eyes from the light. "Is that an exam?"

"No, Kenta." Taehyun sighs, stopping his movements and pausing the music playing from his phone, "I don't know how to do my thesis now. I still have a song I need someone to sing, and I can't find anyone."

Kenta furrows his eyebrows, tossing his arm in the direction of the main building with all the practice studios to the far right of the tree they’re sitting under. "How about those singing people?"

Sanggyun, Taehyun and Kenta’s other roommate, snorts loudly all of a sudden, barking out a loud laugh and clapping Kenta on the shoulder. "Kenta! Taehyun _hates_ those music people because they take up his precious dancing space. It's why we're here outside freezing our asses off in the sun." Taehyun shoots him a distasteful look, and Sanggyun laughs louder. "Look at his face! He's annoyed!"

"I could be holding auditions right now for a team!" Taehyun whines, stomping his feet and frowning deeply. He knows he's being childish, but _the one day_ he's motivated to finally start on his thesis and all the practice studios are booked.

“You’re all seniors booking those rooms, though.” Sanggyun chuckles, “You’ll get one tomorrow-“

“Tomorrow’s fully booked, too!”

“Then the next day-“

“Fully booked.”

“Just hold them out here, then!” Sanggyun rolls his eyes and Kenta slaps his arm, chiding Sanggyun for yelling at an older person. “But this guy should have started on his thesis performance _weeks_ ago so he wouldn’t have to worry about fully-booked practice rooms!”

Taehyun swats at Sanggyun to no real effect, huffing. “You’ll have the same problem next year for your own thesis.”

“No.” Sanggyun sticks his tongue out. “I’ll make sure to do my own thesis earlier because I already learned from your mistakes.”

It’s in the late afternoon when Taehyun decides to just hold his thesis group auditions right there outside in the courtyard just like what Sanggyun said. He really does need to get started on his thesis. The least he can have right now without booking rooms is having a proper lineup for his team.

He sets the auditions that coming Friday, for the entire afternoon, because he's pretty sure most dance majors don't have Friday afternoon classes. The check in for their thesis performances also falls two weeks after, and Taehyun didn't remember that until a freshman (a _freshman_!) friend from his dance team reminded him of the dates. (Anyway, thanks a lot, Eunki.)

Taehyun will definitely have to work at the speed of light, or work something out on his own and create something like a solo for his thesis performance so he can krump alone just so he has something to show to his professor. Krumping alone is not a priority on his to-do-for-thesis list, but he's willing to do it if he must.

Frankly, krumping alone is easier, _much easier_ , for Taehyun because he can practice alone, but nothing ever beats dancing in a team. He just has to find a practice studio that's empty for the next two weeks after his auditions, for hours at a time.

That alone, though, is definitely easier said than done.

 

 

It's half past eight on a Thursday night when Jaehwan starts screaming inside the studio that he's hungry and he's going to go ballistic if he doesn't get food within the next ten minutes. Sungwoon rolls over to see the walking commotion that is Kim Jaehwan and tosses back the curtains he's sleeping behind.

Jaehwan also manages to wake up Minhyun from his nap near the speakers and asks bugs him to take him out to a proper meal because he says he hasn't had a proper meal in _months_. (Which is a far stretch. Sungwoon knows for a fact that Jaehwan went home to his mother just two weekends ago.)

Minhyun, being Minhyun, grumbles and pushes himself up to his feet and nearly slapping Jaehwan in the face for being so loud. Jaehwan, who clings to Minhyun's arm and continuously whines about his supposed lack of proper food, cheers loudly and refuses to let go when Minhyun tugs his phone out of the speaker jack and tells Sungwoon that they're going to go out for dinner. Minhyun calls out to ask him if he wants anything (which Sungwoon shakes his head no to because he's trying to lost a bit of weight) then simply reminds him to leave the room by the strike of the hour because their booking is only from seven to nine.

Sungwoon simply hums then rolls back to his position in the corner of the room facing the wall, reaching for his backpack once more and burying his face in the side as he tries to get back to sleep. He's a light sleeper, he'll wake up when the hourly clocktower in the main campus building strikes. It's a very good alarm for the students who have their practice room bookings.

But when Sungwoon wakes up, he can hear music playing through the speakers again and briefly wonders with half-closed eyes if Minhyun and Jaehwan are back earlier than Sungwoon expected until he realizes that the music playing is way too loud and hip-hop for it to be on either Minhyun's or Jaehwan's phones.

 _Shit, he's crashing in on some guy's practice hours_.

Now, Sungwoon never had any plans on spying on some guy's performance. Not on one of his friends, and definitely on someone who's a total stranger to him. He tries to make as little movement as possible underneath the curtain while he's trying to flip back on his other side. He doesn't want to draw any attention to himself, but he knows he's failed when the sound of footwork on the wooden floor stops and he hears footsteps, the music stopping after a few moments.

"Is someone there?"

Sungwoon shuts his eyes closed tightly, praying to the heavens that this guy is someone nice and won't murder him for looking like he's spying on a performance practice. Sungwoon's not even a dance major! He only has to take a dance class this term to fill in his missing units, but he doesn't dance!

He also doesn't know what he was expecting, but the dancing guy whisks back the curtain he's hiding and Sungwoon's embarrassing himself. He cracks his left eye open and peeks up at the guy, who is frowning at him. Thankfully, the guy doesn't look angry that Sungwoon is in on his precious practice time.

"Is it your time here?' The guy asks and Sungwoon immediately sits up, causing the guy to take a step back in surprise. Sungwoon grabs one strap of his backpack and stumbles to his feet, bowing deeply as he says that ' _no, it's not my time in the studio because I was supposed to leave but I overslept_ ' and whimpering ' _please don't kill me, I just want a music degree_ '.

The guy just laughs and tells him not to worry about anything, that he didn't know anyone was in there so he came in to have some last minute dance practice for an evaluation. Sungwoon's pretty sure his face is red as he rushes out, bowing to the guy, and crashes onto the nearest bench he sees, his bag dropping on the linoleum floor.

That was embarrassing. Sungwoon is trying to calm down, fanning himself and breathing in and out deeply. He’s learned his lesson; he should have set an alarm instead of depending on the clocktower.

When Sungwoon thinks his heart is calm enough, he pushes himself up and picks his bag up from the floor, slinging it over his shoulder and deciding to take that chance to squeeze in some practice for his parts in the song he and Minhyun and Jaehwan are practicing.

Singing always manages to calm him down.

 

 

Taehyun's still sitting alone inside a composition studio on the fourth floor of the practice building at a quarter to ten on a Thursday evening and spinning around on his chair after most of his friends have gotten home, and Kenta just dropped by to give him a cheese sandwich and a bottle of milk around fifteen minutes ago. Kenta had gently patted the top of his head, encouragingly squeezed his shoulder, then told him not to stress too much before leaving to head back to the dorm.

Taehyun's just bitten into his sandwich when he hears a voice. It's a person singing a girl group song, breaking the previous silence of the hallways, and it's a nice, clear voice. He sits, frozen, in his chair for a few moments before thinking ' _fuck it, I need to pass this subject_ ' and running out when the voice gets louder, meaning the person singing is coming nearer to the door of the composition studio.

It really is a nice voice.

"Excuse me!" Taehyun practically screeches as he runs out, looks around, spots a boy just past the door of the studio already nearing the end of hallway and shouts once more, and it clashes with the nice singing voice. The boy stops, swiveling around and tilting his head like a child; Taehyun jogs over to him, an awkward smile forming on his lips. His voice becomes much softer. "I'm a dance major taking a composition class. I just made this song and I need someone to sing it."

The boy blinks before saying, "I'm a music major taking a dance class, and I don't dance."

Taehyun briefly wonders why the boy is taking a dance class when he doesn’t dance, but he pushes the thought out of his mind and clears his throat. It’s probably the same thing as him taking a composition class when he doesn’t really compose.

He holds out his hand awkwardly, "Roh Taehyun."

The boy smiles. It's a strange smile Taehyun can't read, but Taehyun thinks the boy is pretty, nonetheless, with wide doe-like eyes, fair white skin and dark tousled hair. "I'm Sungwoon. Ha Sungwoon."

Ha Sungwoon doesn’t shake Taehyun’s hand.

Taehyun clears his throat, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand Sungwoon didn’t shake. He thinks he’s sweating. “I, uh, I’m sorry but if it’s alright with you, can you sing a song for me?”

Sungwoon’s lips perk up slightly at the edges. “I was already singing.” Then he pauses, tilting his head once again. “Or do you mean you want me to sing the song you made?”

Taehyun’s throat suddenly feels so dry, but he nods. “The latter, yeah.”

Now, Taehyun doesn’t know what he was expecting. He’s sort of expecting Sungwoon to say yes, hoping that he will, but a larger part of him that’s thinking rationally thinks that Sungwoon would say no. Who would sing the song of a stranger asking you to sing a song for him at approximately ten in the evening?

Contrasting Taehyun’s rational brain’s thinking, however, Ha Sungwoon just shrugs. “Sure, alright. Why not?”

 

 

Sungwoon doesn't know what to expect, but Roh Taehyun's song is actually a pretty nice song. It's slow and calm, but still has a fair amount of beats, and Sungwoon thinks this is a song he'd play on loop if he ever wanted to calm himself down after a long tiring day. It sounds like something Moonkyu would make.

Roh Taehyun is looking at him warily, peeking up to look at his expression every five seconds or so. Sungwoon has both earphones in his ears, the soft piano accompaniment flowing matched with the unique tone of Roh Taehyun's singing voice, and the dance major's eyes widen when Sungwoon takes out the earphones Taehyun has lent him when the song ends.

"I know I don't sing well." Taehyun immediately blurts out, his ears glowing red and causing Sungwoon to chuckle. He bites down on his lower lip and reaches for the earphones, fumbling with it. "But how is it?"

"It's nice." Sungwoon tells him with a small smile. "It's simple and it's calming. I'd definitely listen to it over and over again.”

“Thanks.”

Taehyun clears his throat, then looks around the area for the lyrics sheet and hesitatingly hands them to Sungwoon. He thinks he’s sweating out of nerves; he doesn’t know how he should do this. Ha Sungwoon is pretty much a complete stranger. All he did the year before was drop by Junhyuk’s dorm room to drop off the USB with the music file and the lyrics, but this year, he has to give it personally and he’s still nervous even though this guy already said his song was good.

What if he's lying, though? What if the song is actually terrible?

Taehyun clears his throat again.

“So, uh, when are you free?”

"I'm usually free starting from five-thirty in the afternoon. Except for Saturdays and some days when I have to practice for my thesis." Sungwoon tells him, accepting the lyric sheets and quickly flipping through it before shrugging and adding, "But this time of night is good, too."

“Let me know when you’re free?”

Sungwoon hums, nodding. “I can learn your song within the week, so maybe we can meet up back here in a few days? If that’s fine with you?”

Taehyun nods, chuckling. He really is an awkward person. “Now it looks like you’re the one in need. I’m sorry.”

“What can I say? I just like singing.” A shrug, then a pause. A gesture towards Taehyun’s half eaten sandwich left forgotten on the table, “You should finish your sandwich. I should get going, too. It’s getting late.”

“Ah, yes, yes.” Taehyun starts nodding furiously, Sungwoon is already standing up and making to leave. Taehyun bids him a soft ‘ _good night_ ’ and a ‘ _thank you’_ as Sungwoon is gathering his things and pushing open the door. A wave and a softly smiling, “ _Have a nice night_ ” comes as reply, and Sungwoon exits the room.

Once again, Taehyun is left alone and he picks up his sandwich. He’s about to bite into it when his eyes widen again, and he rushes out of the room, sandwich in hand.

“Ha Sungwoon! Can I have your phone number so I can contact you?”

Fortunately for him, Sungwoon isn’t a person who walks fast.

Unfortunately, Taehyun is a person who easily forgets to bring his things when he runs out of a room. Sungwoon retrieves a (hopefully washable) marker from his bag as he meets Taehyun halfway, asking to Taehyun to show his forearm.

As Sungwoon is scribbling his number down on Taehyun’s forearm with a black marker, he’s laughing, “You’d do terribly in emergencies. What if a building burns down and you’re in it?”

“Obviously, I’d run out of the building. I don’t want to die early.”

Sungwoon lets go of Taehyun’s arm and returns the cap back on the marker. “You’re quite sarcastic, I like it. You’re funny.”

 

 

Much to the surprise of a Kenta who's watching this TV series Taehyun doesn't know and a Sanggyun who is munching on a bag of chips while sitting in front of his laptop at a quarter to eleven at night, Taehyun comes back earlier than usual, sipping on the milk Kenta gave him and humming a tune under his breath. Sanggyun looks up, tilting his head and a smile creeping up on his lips.

"Sounds like someone's happy."

Kenta lowers the volume on whatever he's watching and twists around just as Taehyun drops his bag on the couch and drapes himself over the edge. It creaks just slightly. "I met someone today."

"Did you get laid?"

"Sanggyun!" Kenta sounds scandalized, but proceeds to ask Taehyun, "A cute someone?"

Taehyun snorts as a throw pillow goes flying towards the Japanese's boy head. Kenta easily knocks it out of flight as Sanggyun scoffs, "You hoe!"

Kenta is pouting, "How does that make me a hoe?"

Sanggyun rolls his eyes then waves his arm dismissively, addressing Taehyun again. "So, who did you meet?"

"A music major." Sanggyun's eyebrows disappear into his fringe. Kenta goes back to face the television and Taehyun pushes himself upwards from the couch at the sudden silence, looking around at his two roommates. "Why do you look like that, Sanggyun?"

"You _hate_ music majors!"

Taehyun laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head, "He had a nice voice."

Sanggyun snorts. "You use people to your advantage."

Taehyun flushes, "He said he liked singing!"

Kenta suddenly pipes up from where he's sitting, "He's a music major, of course he likes singing!"

Sanggyun coughs loudly, and it sounds like he's laughing. Taehyun then excuses himself to his room and strips off his outer jacket, and it's only then that he remembers the phone number scribbled on his arm in black marker.

He quickly reaches for his phone, then rushes back into the living room to take his backpack from where he left it. Sanggyun looks up at him again and suddenly snorts. "What the fuck? You got the music major's number? On your forearm? Yah, Kenta! Look at Taehyun!"

Kenta groans and twists around, pausing the show he's watching on the television again, his eyes falling on Taehyun's forearm and eyes widening. "Oh my god, it's an actual phone number."

Taehyun rushes over to grab his backpack and locks himself back inside his room, fishing his phone out and inputting Ha Sungwoon's number into his contacts list. Once he saves Ha Sungwoon's contact as ‘ _music major with a nice voice_ ', he sets it back down on his desk and gets up to wash up for the night in the bathroom down the hallway. The television has already fallen silent by now. He presumes Kenta has stopped watching and has retreated to his bedroom.

It’s nearly midnight when he gets out of the shower and in his pajamas and when he gets back to his room, he picks up his phone and is suddenly hit by a desire to contact Ha Sungwoon. Taehyun just wants to thank him for agreeing to a very sudden and random request from a stranger, but he’s not sure how well it would sit with the other.

Surely, it would be strange if he were to just text, right?

Taehyun takes a deep breath, sitting on the edge of his bed and picking up his phone, torn in between texting or not texting.

Should he?

Should he not?

_It’s just a simple thank you and an introduction, Taehyun. Do it. He needs your number, anyway._

Taehyun nods to himself, biting on his lip and drafting out a message to send to the number Ha Sungwoon gave him. He’s about to send it when he hesitates again, and he lowers his hand.

What if Sungwoon’s asleep?

What if he asks ‘ _who are you, stranger?_ ’

What if-

 _Fuck it_. Sungwoon will eventually read the message, asleep or not. It’s hard not to recognize the name of a stranger he met quite literally two hours ago, anyway. Taehyun doesn’t think Sungwoon has bad memory if he’s a singer.

Taehyun sends the text.

 

 

**_Hey, it’s Taehyun, the guy you met earlier with the song. I don’t know when you’ll be able to read this, but I’d just like to say thanks for helping me out. It means a whole lot. Have a good night._ **

Sungwoon is sitting on his solo bed and absentmindedly flipping through music notes when his phone lights up with a notification. He turns it on to see a message from an unknown number and he sets down the papers he’s holding to pick up his phone and read it.

A smile unknowingly creeps up to his lips as he saves the number as ‘ _dance major with a composition’_ and starts typing out a reply.

**_Hey there, it’s no problem. It’s a good song. Have a good night, too._ **

Sungwoon sends the message and puts his phone back down, looking over at his desk where Roh Taehyun’s lyric sheets are sitting. He crawls over to the edge of his bed and reaches for the sheets, reading through the lyrics once more before deciding to call it an early night for the first time in a long time.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Phase: Crescent Moon**

 

 

"They're first years!" Sanggyun stage-whispers, talking about Kim Donghan, Lee Junwoo and that Chinese transfer student, Huang Justin. "They’re first years and you're going to let them be part of your thesis performance?"

"Taehyun's team is full of freshmen and sophomores." Kenta notes, nodding in agreement, then adds after a pause, "Aside from that other guy, anyway. Came back for his masters. Not bad."

"Beggars can't be picky. I have to take whoever I can get, it's not like they're terrible anyway. The first years are very good dancers."

"But first years are _busy_ ! Remember _your_ freshman year?" Sanggyun frowns, eyes growing wide.

Taehyun peeks out at the five boys standing behind them in a line and trying to huddle underneath the shade of a tree while zipping their coats up. It's a cold day and he sees the way Park Sungwoo and Huang Justin are already chatting animatedly, with Sungwoo tugging Justin’s zipper up for him, and the other three boys pulling each other's hoods back (Taedong and Donghan) and laughing (Junwoo).

Taehyun looks back at Sanggyun and shakes his head. "Freshman year only became busy for me because I made the mistake of partying and getting drunk with Junhyuk and his wild friends. They'll do perfectly fine."

Sanggyun opens his mouth to argue some more, but Kenta shrugs before Sanggyun can say anything. "Whatever you want to do, Taehyun."

Hearing that, Taehyun straightens and abruptly claps his hands, facing the group of five once more. "Thank you all for saving my thesis. Now can I have your contact numbers and your entire weekly schedules so I can find a studio to book for when we're all free?"

It takes around two minutes for Taehyun to collect everyone's phone numbers, and for everyone to exchange theirs. Kim Donghan and Kim Taedong know each other through a mutual friend and have easily become close friends because of similar hobbies and likes, and the first thing Huang Justin told Park Sungwoo upon seeing him that day was that he looked like a friend he knows. Even drops a name, and Taehyun doesn’t know what to say because he really doesn’t know that mentioned friend. Only Lee Junwoo is self proclaimed shy, but Kim Donghan promises Taehyun he'll get Junwoo out of his shell soon enough.

Taehyun nods. Team chemistry is important, and he doesn't think that his team has a chance of ever having bad chemistry at the rate they're going anyway.

He dismisses the small group with a satisfied smile and with Sanggyun following him around as Kenta rushes away to the main campus building for his weekly required Korean language classes as Taehyun decides to go back to the dorms.

 

 

The first text message from Ha Sungwoon arrives on a Sunday afternoon, in the middle of Taehyun with his thesis team running through song playlists on Youtube and trying to decide which song would be a good one. HIs phone lights up from where it's resting on his thigh and he calls for Taedong to come over so he can take over for a moment, with the reason that Taehyun has to sort out some things for another class, which is perfectly true.

He pushes himself out then sits cross-legged down on the floor outside the studio right beside the door. He can hear the stomping of Donghan's combat boots (Taehyun doesn't know why Donghan is wearing combat boots to a dance studio) on the wooden floor of the studio and Justin speaking in his soft-spoken Chinese-accented Korean, both having opposite opinions on their song choice.

(The song Donghan wants is a pop song by this popular boy group, and Taehyun fully agrees with Justin that the other song, which is a remix, is a much better choice because there's a larger variety of dance genres and performance props they can incorporate into the choreography.)

He opens the message from Ha Sungwoon, ignoring the shouting texts Sanggyun has been sending him in full caps because he's hungry and indecisive of what to eat, and whining for Taehyun to eat dinner with him.

**_Hello, I got your lyrics and melody memorized. Are you free anytime from right now until Wednesday?_ **

Taehyun quickly runs the schedule of his midterm exams and practices in his head. Half of his midterms are done, most of the written exams are done. He has a P.E practical tomorrow morning. He has practice for his thesis every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and is still looking for days to squeeze in practice.

He pauses for a moment, fingers hovering his phone keyboard before typing and sending.

**_I'm free tonight. Are you free at 8pm?_ **

Ha Sungwoon's reply comes practically at the speed of light.

**_I'm good with that. See you. Text me the details of where we'll record._ **

A smile creeps up on Taehyun's lips.

**_Great. See you tonight._ **

When Ha Sungwoon doesn't reply again, he closes his messaging app and goes to send an email to the administration office that he'll be booking a composition studio with a recording booth for later at 8pm. Taehyun gets a reply within five minutes that he can only get one starting from a quarter to ten until midnight, and he has to take it.

He has no choice. He wants to get this over with and submit the song to his professor already.

When the reservation is confirmed, he sends another text to Ha Sungwoon, informing him and apologizing about the changes in the time of the reservation and explaining that he can't do much about it. Taehyun also mentions that Sungwoon can back out tonight if he's not free since it’s a Sunday, but desperately wishes that he is free.

According to what Ha Sungwoon said that first time in the studio, he's free most days after five, except for Saturdays, anyway. Taehyun hopes nothing sudden comes up.

A lack of reply from Ha Sungwoon has his anxiety increasing.

 

 

“Ha Sungwoon!” Jaehwan is snapping his fingers at Sungwoon’s face as Minhyun goes over to turn off the music accompaniment. "What's with you today? You're fucking out of it."

Sungwoon, who has been getting the lyrics wrong for the past few practice rounds now, hangs his hand, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Since receiving Roh Taehyun's texts earlier, he's been running Taehyun's song lyrics in his mind and it accidentally clashes with the lyrics of the song medley they're supposed to be performing.

"I don't know where you get those lyrics from, but you have to _focus_ -"

"What he's trying to say is that," Minhyun interrupts, "this is your _thesis_ performance, and it should be done perfectly by now. You did amazingly well before this practice. I don't see any reason for you to mess up now. Jaehwan obviously doesn't either, judging from his sass."

Ah, Hwang Minhyun and Kim Jaehwan. They're friends Sungwoon met in sophomore year, when both Minhyun and Jaehwan were roommates as college freshmen and known for Jaehwan being locked inside their dorm room by Minhyun for a whole day  just so he would clean. They used to live in the room opposite Sungwoon's and his then-roommate who has now graduated already. Sungwoon moved out of his two-person dorm room and to a one-person room near the rooms of dance major sophomores at the start of the year. Minhyun and Jaehwan are both vocal majors that Sungwoon doesn't interact with that often because they’re from a different year, but then again who _does_ he interact with on a daily basis these days? At this level, Sungwoon can even call Jaehwan and Minhyun his best friends.

"I'm doing a favor for someone later, so uh, I'm remembering his lyrics." Sungwoon explains, his voice low.

Jaehwan frowns, "Well, you should remember our song's lyrics first unless you want to sing that guy's song for your thesis."

Minhyun raises both hands to silence them, turning away from the pair. "Let's take a fifteen minute break. Sungwoon, remember the proper lyrics, please. This is _your_ thesis, not ours. You know we’re only doing this for you because we love you. We’re busy, too."

Minhyun then goes over to the speaker and pulls out his phone from the jack, proceeding to exit the practice studio. Jaehwan frowns over at Sungwoon once more before walking to the corner of the studio and sitting himself down, closing his eyes as he stretches out his legs.

It's half past nine in the evening and they've been practicing for the past two hours now ever since they got dinner at a nearby fast food chain, and the practice was supposed to run until eleven. Sungwoon totally forgot to tell them that he's going to record a song with Roh Taehyun.

_Fuck._

Sungwoon hesitates for a second before reaching over for his bag on the floor beside where Jaehwan is sitting, slinging it over his shoulder and says to the air that he needs to leave to do something important. He thinks he hears Jaehwan grunt, but doesn't mind it. He takes that as an 'okay', a sign to leave, and goes to run down the hallway to the stairs at the end so he can go up to the composition studio Roh Taehyun has reserved.

Jaehwan's words are still ringing in his ears. About using Roh Taehyun's song for his thesis. It's crazy, really. Sungwoon doesn't know why he keeps thinking about it and why he's actually _contemplating_ it.

He knocks and enters the room to see Roh Taehyun spinning his chair around with his head leaned against the back of his chair. Taehyun quickly straightens when Sungwoon enters, patting his hair back down while smiling awkwardly and letting out what strangely sounds like a sigh of relief.

"Hey, you came."

Sungwoon returns the same awkward smile as he walks further into the room and drops his bag on a chair. It's a more spacious studio than the previous one, and there are more chairs.

"Yes, I came."

"You didn't reply earlier." Taehyun clears his throat. "I thought you weren't going to come."

Sungwoon's mouth drops open. He completely forgot about that. Taehyun takes note of his expression and chuckles, getting up from his seat and walking over to Sungwoon. It's weird how Sungwoon only notices their (equally vertically challenged) height similarities just now.

Taehyun holds out his hand; Sungwoon tilts his head questioningly.

"A handshake." Taehyun then prompts. "You didn't shake my hand the first time.” Sungwoon blinks, processing it for a moment before a tiny smile turns the corners of his lips upward just slightly and he reaches out to shake Taehyun's hand firmly.

"You're funny. I don't find people usually asking for handshakes on the second meeting."

Taehyun shrugs, "If we're going to be friends, we might as well have had a proper introduction and handshake and whatnot, yeah?"

Sungwoon suddenly tenses; he doesn't expect that, and he can see the way Taehyun's expression shifts into a more awkward one as he retrieves his hand, rubbing the back of his neck. Taehyun jerks his head in the direction of the recording studio.

"Shall we start?"

Sungwoon clears his throat, his hand falling to his side limply. "Let's."

 

 

"Why aren't you picky? I would have thought someone who needs someone to sing their composition would be pickier than this."

Taehyun looks up as Sungwoon exits the recording studio and sets down the lyrics sheet, blinking. "There's nothing to be picky about. You have a good voice. It suits the song. I found no mistakes."

"Thirty minutes is short for a whole song recording."

"If you forgot, I'm not a music major. I'm a dancer, Ha Sungwoon. I spend more time in dance rooms than compositions studios, sweating my ass off and dancing, not sitting for hours and making songs."

Sungwoon nods slowly, reaching over his bag and taking out his phone to check the time. It's two minutes past eleven and there's a whole influx of text messages and missed calls from both Jaehwan and Minhyun about Sungwoon ditching his ‘ _own fucking thesis_ ’ and that Sungwoon should be thankful both Minhyun and Jaehwan are still dealing with his shit and that they don’t deserve this blatant disrespect for their time.

He winces. He doesn't think he wants to see them tonight; practice just ended anyway, they should be going back to the dorms by now. He knows it’s his fault, and he feels terrible that he only feels half-bad for ditching them when he’s the one in need.

His eyes flit back over to Taehyun, who has red headphones on and is fixing the song. Sungwoon slowly reaches for his bag just as Taehyun abruptly breaks the silence.

"Are you leaving now?"

Sungwoon's mouth goes dry. He doesn't want to accidentally run into either of them at the dorms, but he doesn't want to stay too long in Taehyun's working space, either. Taehyun peeks over his shoulder, noticing the way Sungwoon's hands are gripping probably a bit too tightly on the strap of his bag.

"Stay for a bit. I could use the company, and you don't look like someone who wants to go home anytime soon." Taehyun then motions towards a random chair in the corner of the studio before focusing back on the computer screen. "Sit, Sungwoon. I hope you don't mind entertaining me for a while."

Sungwoon sits, but he doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know what to say that can count as entertaining to Taehyun, to someone who's busy and needs someone to keep him company. He doesn't think he's properly shared a story since his previous roommate, Moonkyu, graduated. Moonkyu has always been one of his favorite friends, a friend who has always been there for Sungwoon and brought him to see the world when he didn't have energy to and kept him company when Sungwoon needed it most.

But then again, the fact that Sungwoon and Moonkyu have been friends since Sungwoon was in elementary school probably explains why he's so attached to Moonkyu. Sungwoon hasn't met anyone yet who's on the same level as him.

"I, uh, I'm not a very entertaining person." Sungwoon clears his throat.

Taehyun glances back at him for half a second. Sungwoon wonders how Taehyun can hear what he's saying with headphones and all, but he does. He doesn't question it. Sungwoon rubs the back of his neck, his ears suddenly turning warm.

He's taken by surprise when Taehyun closes the window he's working on after quickly saving it and spinning around in his chair to face Sungwoon, hanging his headphones around his neck. "I doubt you're not an entertaining person. I mean, I don't think anyone alive is _that_ boring that they don't have any stories. Tell me about yourself."

Sungwoon blinks.

Taehyun gives him an awkward smile in reply, "Should I go first, then?" And he introduces himself, without waiting for Sungwoon to answer.

"I'm Roh Taehyun, I'm twenty-four and a dance major. I live with two juniors as my roommates in the campus dorms, and it's nice to meet you. I think this song of mine suits you."

"You know my name and major already. Twenty three years old, lives alone in the dorms, and yes, I guess it does suit me quite well." Sungwoon falls silent for a moment before speaking up again, “Your song is calming, and the lyrics are sadly, oddly relatable.”

“Do _you_ talk to the moon?” Taehyun tilts his head. Sungwoon shrugs passively, but doesn’t give an answer.

“I like the moon. It’s dark and it’s calming, and I’d take that over the sun any day. The sun is too bright.”

“Are you sad, Sungwoon?”

Sungwoon hums, lowering his head. “I guess? I’m missing a friend. He graduated, and it’s the first year I’m not with him in nine years. It feels empty.” Taehyun nods, listening intently, and Sungwoon hesitates before continuing. “I just don’t feel complete without him, and I rarely get to talk to him anymore. It feels like I lost a really big part of me to graduation.”

“Why the moon, then?”

“The moon…” Sungwoon trails off, then shrugs and shakes his head. “I don’t know. He reminds me of the moon. His name has a moon.”

“I wrote my song looking at the moon.” Taehyun informs him. “It gave light.”

“Light to what?”

“Light for me to make a song.” Taehyun cracks a small smile, then snorts. “That was cheesy, but the moon really was pretty, and I thought that the moon is always there, in whichever way hanging outside my window, so I wanted to make a song anyone could listen to when they’re feeling alone. I mean, why not, right?”

Sungwoon tilts his head from side to side, as if he’s a dog trying to get water out of his ears. The smile on Taehyun's lips grow wider, watching the other. Sungwoon licks his lips before saying, “Are you looking for light, too, then?”

Taehyun pauses then shrugs. “I don’t know. All I really want right now is to graduate.”

“Same, honestly.”

“And that’s why you said you have to take that dance class?”

Sungwoon nods, smiling slightly, then clears his throat. “How’s your thesis, by the way? As a co-senior in his last term?"

“I think it’s going well enough, we picked a song earlier, and my team doesn’t have any conflicts or anything.” Taehyun scratches the back of his head, “It’s fine, I guess. How about yours?”

“You’re going to dance, right?” Sungwoon questions, and Taehyun gives a short nod. “Well, me and my thesis team - my friends - are going to do a medley of pop songs.” He falls silent before continuing, “But while we were practicing earlier, I kept messing up because of your song-“

Taehyun face immediately falls, “Oh no, I’m sorry.”

“No, no,” Sungwoon chuckles, “It’s fine. My friend did say that since I kept singing another song, I should think about singing your song for my thesis instead. I’d be lying if I say I didn’t consider that after he mentioned it. I do like your song.”

“Do you want to?”

Sungwoon falls quiet, peeking up at Taehyun from behind his fringe hesitantly. He can’t say that he hasn’t been considering it. Jaehwan and Minhyun are both good thesis teammates, but there’s something about the both of them that doesn’t make Sungwoon easily comfortable around them. Jaehwan is too loud, Minhyun is too focused on requirements sometimes. It’s not really a perfect balance, but it’s enough.

If he were to sing Taehyun’s song, then Sungwoon would be singing alone.

“I don’t really mind.”

“Would your teammates be fine with it?”

“Maybe.”

“I could lend you my song, if you like it that much.”

Taehyun looks nonchalant about it, then looks like he’s gauging Sungwoon’s reaction to what he said. Taehyun’s facial structure and the blankness of his usual expression makes Taehyun look like someone who doesn’t really care about anything, with heavily lidded eyes that turn down at the corner, the sharp lines of his nose and jawline, and the constant upward twitching of the corners of his lips.

That’s how Taehyun looks like right now, with his lips twitching and his eyes drooping. It's calculating. Calm. Serious.

“I do like it that much.” Sungwoon states, clearing his throat. “But I’m not sure how Jaehwan and Minhyun would react to me leaving them, since it’s my thesis and I’m basically wasting their time by telling them that no, I don’t want to do that song with them anymore.”

“Ah.” Taehyun casually leans back in his chair, stretching out his legs. “Then that’s for you to figure out on your own.”

They fall silent, and Taehyun spins his chair around to continue working on his laptop, which has already fallen asleep. Moving his chair to sit a little bit closer to Taehyun, Sungwoon is struck by a sudden realization that he’s probably spilled more things about himself to someone he barely knows than to people he’s known for years.

To think that he’s only known Roh Taehyun since recently, this is a large feat. Sungwoon doesn’t talk unless he’s comfortable, and he _is_ somehow comfortable around Taehyun.

Does this mean Sungwoon will start calling Taehyun a friend now? When he voices out this internal question, he can hear Taehyun chuckle, sparing him a half glance.

“I can be your friend if you’ll let me. You don’t seem like someone who names people as friends so easily, especially with the way you froze when I said handshakes are a necessity to become friends.”

Sungwoon doesn’t know what to say. He asks another question, out of plain curiosity.

“Will we still talk to each other even after this?”

Once again, Taehyun chuckles.

“Well, I can’t just start ignoring you starting tomorrow, can I? You actually saved my sorry ass from failing this class, and I’m really grateful for you and what you did.”

 

 

Sungwoon doesn’t sleep that night.

He spends his supposed sleeping hours outside, sitting on a bench near the track oval in the cold with an occasional chilly breeze passing through that has Sungwoon's breaths coming out like fog from his mouth and his hands fumbling with his jacket zipper. It’s nearly one in the morning, and he’s spending his time outside thinking about what he should do, and if he refers to Taehyun as a friend now. He’s in the middle of a train of thought when his phone lights up in his pocket and he has to fish it out to see the new text message he just received, already expecting it to be from Taehyun.

Surprisingly, it’s from Moonkyu, sending him just two words.

**_You asleep?_ **

He thinks his mouth suddenly dried up from all its saliva, and he realizes that sounds disgusting. He runs his tongue over his lower lip before tapping on his phone and his keyboard pops up.

**_No, aren’t you?_ **

Moonkyu takes a whole minute to reply, and Sungwoon raises his gaze towards the moon, which is a half tonight.

 **_I just got back home. I went out drinking with the other interns after work_ **.

Sungwoon misses Moonkyu. Probably more than he'd like to admit.

But he doesn’t say that.

 **_You haven’t texted in a while_ **.

The moment the number beside the message disappears, telling Sungwoon that his message has been read, a video call request comes up on the screen of his phone. Sungwoon doesn’t hesitate in accepting the call, pulling the phone away from his face, as his friend’s face fills his screen.

“Hey.” Moonkyu is smiling slightly, chuckling awkwardly as he runs his fingers through his now-dark hair. Sungwoon recalls Moonkyu’s hair was blond when he graduated. “How’s senior year?”

“School is different without you,” Sungwoon admits, his defenses suddenly down when he sees Moonkyu’s face, who bursts out laughing at his admittance. “Hey! Why are you laughing? I’m being genuine here!”

“Were you that lonely without me, kid? Don’t you have any other friends?”

Sungwoon pouts. “They’re not you.”

“Maybe you just cherish me too much.”

“We’ve known each other for years. It’s natural.”

“I know.” Moonkyu laughs, pushing his fringe back, and his voice suddenly drops lower. “How’s your thesis going? It’s thesis term already, right? Are you up because of late practice?”

“I went to help out a….” Sungwoon falters, thinking. Does he address Taehyun as someone from the dance department? An acquaintance? A friend? “I went to help a friend.” He completes, the word sounding foreign as it rolls off his tongue.

“A friend?” Moonkyu echoes, to which Sungwoon nods to confirm. “Is it anyone I know?”

“I don’t think so. He’s a dance major.”

Moonkyu tilts his head. “I’m a double vocal and dance major, though? The name might be familiar.”

“Roh Taehyun.” Sungwoon supplies.

Moonkyu’s eyebrows go up slightly and Sungwoon moves his phone to his other hand so he can rest his arm just as Moonkyu says, “I’ve heard his name around before from the professors. He krumps. He’s very good, from what I heard. Never personally met him, though.”

“I’ve never seen him dance before.” Sungwoon says bluntly, realizing then that he doesn’t really know much about Roh Taehyun. Taehyun probably knows more about Sungwoon than Sungwoon knows about Taehyun. That’s sort of unsettling for Sungwoon, who thinks he’s one of the most guarded people he knows.

Shouldn’t it be Sungwoon who knows more about Taehyun than Taehyun does about him? Sungwoon is supposed to be the mysterious one, not Taehyun.

Taehyun speaks well, he decides. That’s the only reason why Taehyun knows more about Sungwoon.

 

 

Taehyun emails his files to his professor at exactly 3:22 on a Monday morning, double checking his sent mails before closing the windows and shutting off his laptop.

One requirement down, one thesis left.

He still has one class later in the morning, in approximately five hours on the track oval, then he has two hours free after his practical exam before he has to go for his thesis practice. At least, he doesn’t have to think about that damned song anymore.

He’s tucked away his laptop in its bag and is getting up to go wash up for the night when he remembers Sungwoon. He quickly reaches for his phone that’s still inside his bag and sends Sungwoon a thank you text.

**_I just sent in the files, thanks so much for your help. You’re always welcome to use my song for your thesis, if you want._ **

He’s setting it down, when he sends another follow-up text.

**_The moon is pretty tonight, by the way. Half moon._ **

Sungwoon doesn't reply.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Phase: First Quarter Moon**

 

 

Taehyun meets up with underclassmen friends from his dance team for the first time in months after his practical on a campus cafe. Taehyun has known them since he was in eleventh grade and first joining the dance academy near his high school and Byun Hyunmin and Hong Eunki were in eighth. The pair of them are freshmen, meeting him during a break in between their classes with the sole reason that they needed help. For what, Taehyun doesn't know yet. They just arrived and engulfed Taehyun is separate bear hugs that have them lifting Taehyun off of his feet before going to the counter to order for themselves something to eat.

Taehyun still has approximately a little over an hour left before he has to go to his thesis practice and teach his team some parts of the choreography already, and he's checking the time just as Hyunmin and Eunki come back with their trays of drinks and food. They settle themselves down around the cafe's round table and Hyunmin reaches for his pastry.

"You're sweating, Taehyun," Eunki wrinkles his nose. "Where did you come from?"

"I've been sweating since before you both came in." Taehyun explains, briefly wiping his forehead with a hand towel he's stuffed inside his bag. "I came from a P.E. practical." Then he picks up his cup to finish the remains of his drink. "So, why did you both call me out?"

Hyunmin peeks up at Eunki through his fringe and a fond smile makes its way on Taehyun's face, seeing his puffed cheeks that are filled with chocolate croissant. Eunki clears his throat, folding his hands over the table and not minding his food yet.

"We have a performance among us freshmen, and we're not sure what to do with a guy in our team. He says he wants to be the center of the performance because he wants to be scouted by whichever company, I don't know where he got the idea that he can be scouted but—"

"He heard that someone from the music department got casted two weeks ago." Hyunmin pipes up.

Taehyun tilts his head; he hasn't heard anything about someone being casted. He doesn't know much people from the music department, but he's pretty sure no department is holding their showcases this early in the term. He doubts that person was casted at a showcase performance, and in his seven term showcases so far, he's never heard anything about entertainment company scouts coming. Hm, maybe that guy was just casted because of his looks or because he was out busking in the area.

"So he wants to be center because he wants to be casted, is that it?" Taehyun asks, to which Hyunmin nods in confirmation. Taehyun leans back against his chair. "Give it to him, then. Is he a good dancer?"

Eunki and Hyunmin exchange a look that Taehyun can recognize as doubt. Eunki speaks, a bit slowly and carefully. "He does b-boying, but he's slowing us down. He insists on this song or that song, and I've noticed that he's really slow with learning choreography. We were scolded during choreography check last Friday. I don't know what to do anymore. He's asking if we can put a b-boy solo for him, too, and told me I'm too greedy for parts."

Eunki is telling Taehyun a lot of things and a lot of his worries and frustrations, with Hyunmin occasionally nodding in agreement and eating his pastry. Taehyun tilts his head, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion and wondering why they won't just talk to this kid directly.

"He's stubborn," Eunki admits when Taehyun voices out that question. "And I'm pretty sure you've dealt with stubborn people before, as well."

Taehyun nearly rolls his eyes. Back in sophomore year, he had met someone who had wormed his way in his term performance term through whatever way, and Taehyun had nearly beat up the guy if only a teammate had not told him to calm down and calmly talk. The annoying someone had tried to be leading the team when all he did was slow down their progress with constant useless nitpicking at Taehyun's choreography. If there's anything Taehyun is extremely proud of in his life, it's his dance skills, and he's received tons of acknowledgement for them from both professionals and co-students.

It was an attack at his pride and ego. He hated it. "Just talk to him." Taehyun then advises with a sigh. "Things will turn out fine as long as you're the leader and that's what the professor knows."

Eunki continues to press on with a few more questions, seemingly desperate to get as much advice from Taehyun as he can while he can. Hyunmin finishes his pastry and is already taking large gulps from his drink when Eunki starts to reach out for his own food. Taehyun chuckles at the way Hyunmin is stuffing his mouth with food and Taehyun reaches over to ruffle Hyunmin's dark hair. Hyunmin's always there but he's not one to talk when not needed,  so he usually just fades into the background. Taehyun has a soft spot for specifically Hyunmin because of that; no one really notices the quiet people, after all.

When Eunki receives enough advice that Taehyun thinks is advice Eunki can live with for the rest of his life, his shoulders relaxes and he settles into his seat more comfortably, finally switching the subject to a lighter topic. Eunki even mentions that someone caught his eye over the duration of his first year in university and excitedly gushes about said person without dropping a name or a gender.

Hyunmin informs Taehyun, "Eunki is gay. He says he's had a gay awakening at the start of the term." Eunki turns bright red and Taehyun bursts out laughing as Hyunmin continues to spill stories about Eunki and his crush.

The rest of Eunki and Hyunmin's break passes by quickly and they tell Taehyun that they have to go back to class earlier than Taehyun would like them to. It's been a while since they got together to talk and Taehyun is once again reminded of why Eunki and Hyunmin are two of his favorite underclassmen. Taehyun decides when Hyunmin and Eunki leave that he should go start setting up for practice as well, and he leaves the cafe in a jog, arriving at the practice studio the same time as Lee Junwoo, who is always early to practice.

 

 

Sungwoon overslept because he forgot to set his alarm after going back to his dorm room at five in the morning and is properly woken up with a loud banging on his dorm room door. He's regretting his terrible sleeping patterns, and totally _not_ the fact that he was able to have a chat with Moonkyu that dawn, as he drags himself out of bed and pads over to the door, swinging it open to find a fidgeting Hwang Minhyun without a Kim Jaehwan.

That's strange. Minhyun doesn't fidget. He's rarely ever without Jaehwan, too.

Minhyun looks down at him in all his tall glory and smiles weirdly. It looks a mix between a friendly smile and an uncomfortable grimace. Sungwoon raises his eyebrows. "What do you want?"

"Our class got a sudden assignment. Jaehwan's running around campus trying to find people he knows who can help publicize and get us gigs, and I'm here in front of you now to deliver bad news."

Sungwoon's eyebrows disappear into his fringe. Minhyun takes that as a signal to continue speaking.

"We can't help you with your thesis anymore." Minhyun tells him apologetically. "We can't balance this assignment and thesis practices with you even if we try. Ours is too work-heavy, I don't know why we're only getting the assignment now."

Minhyun looks genuinely uncomfortable and apologetic, and all Sungwoon can say is, "Ah." Even if it's already afternoon, he just woke up so he doesn't think his brain is already functioning properly. It takes a while for the information to register, and when it finally does, Sungwoon coughs loudly.

"I'm sorry– _what?"_

Minhyun, patiently, slowly repeats what he said, and Sungwoon bites down on his lip to keep himself from letting out a relieved sigh. He's talked about a lot of things with Moonkyu, including his thesis and how he was starting to want to sing Taehyun's song instead and forget everything he practiced with Minhyun and Jaehwan, and he was trying to think a way to break it those guys. Moonkyu had suggested he just say something or other came up, or he could just say the truth. Sungwoon, being Sungwoon, didn't know what to do.

But now, here's his thesis groupmate, Hwang Minhyun, telling Sungwoon they can't help him anymore and Sungwoon might as well go solo or find another team. Sungwoon only feels half bad seeing how apologetic and sorry Minhyun looks to be telling him all these. All that's running through his mind right now is how to tell Roh Taehyun that he wants to use his song for his thesis now.

A blessing disguised as a misfortune.

 

 

"Taehyun!"

It's a ten minute break with Taehyun on his stomach on the floor and monitoring their current progress through videos on the IPad he's put at the front of the room so he can see who's making mistakes and who's not. The freshmen's actions are sharp and crisp, and he's smiling fondly as he pushes himself to his knees and looks up to see a Ha Sungwoon standing outside the glass door of the room. Donghan is standing by the door and moves away when Taehyun approaches, the younger going back to his and Taedong, Junwoo and Justin's little circle. Sungwoo is still running through the choreography alone in front of the mirror.

Taehyun opens the door and steps outside. "Hello." Sungwoon takes a step back.

"I need a favor."

Ha Sungwoon is fidgeting, his fingers are fumbling with the hem of his shirt and he's rocking from side to side on the sides of his feet. Taehyun tilts his head; he thinks he know what this is. All that he's mentioned is about Sungwoon's thesis and Taehyun's song, but he's curious to know how Sungwoon decided when he said that he already has a thesis team.

"Do you want my song for your thesis, then?"

The other doesn't speak for a while, only continuing to fumble with his shirt before hesitantly nodding. A small, curious smile forms at the edges of Taehyun's lips.

"What happened to your team?"

"They got a big assignment and can't help me anymore."

"But isn't that what you wanted, though?"

"I... I guess don't really like socializing very much. Or team work. So, yeah, that's what I wanted."

"But teams can help you, you know." Taehyun comments, crossing his arms over his chest. "You don't have to do everything alone."

"But I guess I like working alone."

"You're a strange person, Ha Sungwoon."

Sungwoon smiles weakly. "I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you."

"Are you really going to sing my song alone?"

Sungwoon nods. "Of course. Unless I'm told not to."

Taehyun stares at Sungwoon for a little while before dropping his arms and shrugging. "I'll trust you with my song, then. Just text me your email, I'll send you the files you need."

Sungwoon nods slowly, and Taehyun excuses himself to go back to practice. Sungwoon waves, and Taehyun pushes himself back inside the studio. Sungwoo has now joined Donghan's circle and they're playing the dumpling game when Taehyun enters, much to his amusement, as he crouches down in between Junwoo and Justin.

"Taehyun, who was that guy?" Donghan notices him first, as Junwoo is chanting and says the number twelve. Donghan frowns when they lose again, before continuing the chant. "Boyfriend?"

"Donghan, stop assuming everyone is dating." Taedong chides. "Not everyone wants to date in college."

Donghan just pouts and Junwoo coughs into his fist about Donghan constantly going on blind dates with both guys and girls and Taehyun even hears something about _fucking_ , causing Donghan to turn bright red and swatting at a cackling Junwoo and Taedong. Justin is blinking confusedly (he doesn't seem to have understood, thank _god_ ) and Sungwoo is suddenly very interested in the cracks of the walls.

Taehyun coughs loudly, clearing his throat, "He's a friend." Donghan looks disappointed and disbelieving. "Not a boyfriend, not a fuck buddy."

 

 

It's a Tuesday afternoon when Sungwoon decides to give his two thesis showcase tickets to Moonkyu and his mother respectively, in the hopes that at least one of them can come.

It's a Wednesday evening when he emails them both the digital copies he's received from the office and Moonkyu replies with a promise after a few hours that he'll try to come. His mother doesn't reply anything back.

It's a Thursday afternoon when he thinks that he's practiced the song for a few days already, so he doesn't have to exert much effort into learning and practicing the song.

It's a Thursday evening when a knock comes on his door, and Kim Jaehwan and Hwang Minhyun tumbles in with bags of chips and large bottles of soda, while yelling that they need a break.

It's a Friday morning and the day of the thesis check-in when Sungwoon wakes up late _again_ , at nine in the morning and an hour before the actual check-in and he stumbles into the studio the second his name is being called out for attendance and for the check-in.

It's a Friday evening when Minhyun and Jaehwan come again, dragging him out of his room and declaring that they all need to go out for drinks because they're all tired and need alcohol in their system to let loose of all the stress and tiring deadlines.

It's approximately nine o'clock when the three of them enter a pub nowhere near campus but they like it because it’s classy and cheap, and there's like ten other people already inside. Minhyun and Jaehwan go somewhere inside while they leave Sungwoon to his own devices on one of the couches away from the bar.

 

 

Taedong is patiently patting Taehyun's arm and telling him that _no_ , he's not a failure. Kenta just walked over to order a drink after tipsy-squashing Taehyun into a tight hug with a pat on the back, promising him that he's an amazing dancer and choreographer and that he shouldn't let professors bring his pride down. Donghan and Sungwoo are both apologizing profusely for making so many mistakes and dancing so terribly during the check-in, and there's Junwoo and Justin promising that they'll work harder to do Taehyun's choreography justice.

In the midst of all of this, Sanggyun is offering Taehyun drinks, with Taehyun miserably waving Sanggyun's drink offers away before deciding he's had enough and excuses himself to the toilet to splash his face with water.

He's reaching for a paper towel when he hears something clatter inside one of the stalls and a curse. He quickly pats his face dry and throws the paper towel away, inching slowly towards the one closed stall and jumping back when it opens to show a Ha Sungwoon down on his hands and knees with a marker rolling away from him on the linoleum floor.

"Are you okay?" Taehyun asks warily, crouching down and offering Sungwoon a hand to help him up.

"I fell off a fucking toilet seat, I'm perfectly fine." Sungwoon grumbles sarcastically, but takes Taehyun's hand nonetheless.

Taehyun pulls Sungwoon up and Sungwoon leans over to pick up the fallen marker and shoves it in his jeans pocket. It's only then that Taehyun notices the constellations and celestial bodies drawn on Sungwoon's arm with black ink. He tilts his head, commenting, "You seem to like celestial bodies a lot."

"My friend used to call me a cloud, and he was the moon." Sungwoon straightens, looking Taehyun in the eye. "Why am I telling you all this? I barely know you."

"A cloud and a moon." The edges of Taehyun's lips curl up slightly. "Cute. Do you usually protect your friend like clouds cover the moon?"

"No, he– why am I even telling you all these?"

Taehyun simply laughs. Sungwoon frowns. He doesn't think Taehyun deserves to know things about him when Sungwoon doesn't even know things about Taehyun. Shouldn't the amount of things they know about each other is equal?

Sungwoon clears his throat. "Tell me, Roh Taehyun, why are you out here in a pub in Itaewon, of all places, on this Friday evening?"

Taehyun's answer is short and blunt. "Thesis check in went terribly. Sanggyun likes this place."

"How bad was the check?"

"I want to scrap everything. They said I didn't interpret the song properly to make the choreography."

As Taehyun is talking about his thesis check in, Sungwoon briefly remembers Moonkyu complaining the previous year about how the professors didn't like his song choice. Sungwoon wants to share with Taehyun that small piece of information and how Moonkyu ended up with one of the highest thesis scores after the performance when he decided to stubbornly stick with his song choices until the end, but eventually decides against it.

It's somehow strange how Sungwoon is starting to think of Moonkyu more often than usual recently. Is it because Taehyun and Moonkyu are respectively taking and graduated with a degree in dance?

"It was _that_ bad." Taehyun finishes with a deep sigh, lowering his gaze and scratching the back of his head.

It's only then that Taehyun seems to remember that they're inside the toilet. Taehyun clears his throat, heat seemingly rising to his cheeks as he quickly strides over to the door and walks out, with Sungwoon at his heels. There's an air of haze in the pub by now and if Taehyun squints, he thinks he can see Sanggyun and Kenta sitting close together and talking (or are they doing something else?)

Before he can walk closer to take a better look at what his two friends are doing, the door to the toilet slams closed behind him and there's a Ha Sungwoon standing right beside him.

"It's foggy." Sungwoon murmurs, and Taehyun internally agrees.

Taehyun clears his throat. "Do you want to talk more?"

Sungwoon gives a nod, and Taehyun swallows down a sudden lump that has formed in his throat.

"Let's go outside?"

"Yes." Sungwoon nods slowly, purses his lips then adds. "Let's get out of here."

 

 

"Are we friends?"

"We're friends if you want to be my friend." Taehyun answers simply, sitting down on the sidewalk a few meters away from the entrance of the pub and looking up at Sungwoon's face. "If you'd let me be your friend."

"Then, tell me about yourself." Sungwoon bites his lip. "I don't think it's fair if you know so much about me and I don't know anything about you."

"What do you want to know?"

"Are you normally like this?"

Taehyun raises an eyebrow. "Normally like what?"

"This." Sungwoon motions to Taehyun's whole form helplessly. Taehyun is sitting with his chin rested on top of his hand that's on his knee and looking at Sungwoon seriously. "All this. You just came knocking into my life so easily, yelling at me and asking me to sing a song, and I ended up singing your song for you and now, I'm singing it for my thesis." Sungwoon inhales sharply before continuing. "I don't know how you've become a part of my life when I barely know you, and it's strange because I want to know you,  and I'm constantly opening myself up to you so easily and I don't even know why I am."

Sungwoon pauses after a long time of speaking, and when he speaks once more, his voice has dropped to a low whisper.

"I'm not used to change."

Taehyun is only intently staring at him, silent for a few long moments before he opens his mouth and hesitantly says, "You don't like change either, do you?"

Sungwoon nods. "I don't like things and people changing."

"You prefer constant things, is that it?"

"Yes. I want to have the same people around me for the rest of my life."

"Where are your high school friends?"

Sungwoon's mouth goes dry. "I only talked to one person on a daily basis in high school. I'm not much of a socializer."

"Damn," Taehyun chuckles lowly. "You should socialize more. I can introduce you to my friends if you want."

"You don't seem to be much of a socializer, either, though." Sungwoon notes.

Taehyun shrugs. "I'm not. I don't like big groups of friends.  Things get complicated. Drama happens. I don't like drama. I just want to graduate, honestly. I think there's like just twenty people that I talk to so comfortably, excluding my family."

"And you can avoid drama that way?" Sungwoon tilts his head, and Taehyun shrugs. Sungwoon can't understand the gesture.

"Avoiding it well enough to survive college."

"And no one around you is dating?"

"No. No one wants to date. Kenta just wants to graduate, like me, and Sanggyun used to be really crazy within his first term of college and doing random shit, but he calmed down quite a bit. He says it's thanks to me and my OCD."

Sungwoon raises his eyebrows. "You're a perfectionist? You don't look like someone who wants everything to be perfect down to the last detail."

"I am." Taehyun assures him, "It's not that intense and it's just not outwardly."

Sungwoon continues asking Taehyun questions, doing his best to avoid talking about himself and to learn more about the other. He doesn't know what time it is when Taehyun stands up from the sidewalk and tells him that he should be going ahead first and taking care of his two friends who are most likely drunk already inside.

Taehyun is someone who doesn't seem to like about himself, Sungwoon declares. Taehyun also has a really nice smile and pretty features. It's fucking pretty.

As Taehyun enters the bar once again, Sungwoon stays behind. A sudden thought runs past and flies out of Sungwoon's brain before he can properly register it. He doesn't think about it again.

He doesn't want to.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Phase: Waxing Gibbous Moon**

 

 

Taehyun wakes up the next morning hanging off the edge of his bed in his dorm room to his phone beeping with an influx of messages and his phone ringing over and over again. They’re text messages coming from the usually quiet-on-messenger-apps Hojung and San flooding their group chat of four people with emojis and stickers and _‘let’s meet uuuuup’_ and _‘where tf is taehyun’_ messages in between. According to the notification, they’ve started messaging half an hour ago.

He decides to just go with them wherever they’re asking to meet up, it’s been a while, anyway, and he doesn’t have the energy to start working on his thesis again. By the time Taehyun has washed up and changed into a clean white sweater and jeans, Junhyuk has messaged the chat and said that he won’t be able to make it later on, and Hojung has replied with crying emojis.

When Taehyun gets out of his room and has successfully tugged on his socks one-handedly while trying to mute the chat (because really, his phone seems like it’s about to explode), he finds Sanggyun and Kenta cuddling on top of the couch. Taehyun snorts as he stands on his own two feet and snaps a quick photo of the two before going to the door and pulling on the same pair of worn sneakers that he’s worn the day before.

Since when have Kenta and Sanggyun been touchy enough to cuddle to sleep?

Hojung and San are already waiting at the park they've told the group chat to go to when Taehyun arrives. It's a park a little far away from where Taehyun's dorms are, but he guesses it's the nearest place there is for him, Hojung and San to meet, especially since those two's university isn’t really that near.

They're sitting on the swings, laughing about something Taehyun is still too far away to hear when he's walking towards them. A bespectacled (Taehyun knows they're fake) San spots him first and waves, digging the heels of his sneakers into the ground. Hojung follows and he quickly gets up to throw his arm around Taehyun and ruffle his hair, using his tall height to his advantage. Taehyun shoves him away and Hojung lets out a laugh, "How's life?"

"Better without you, you shit." Taehyun rolls his eyes, and waves at San, who is walking over to them, adjusting his glasses on his nose and smiling. "Nice fake glasses."

"They're pretty." San nods, agreeing.

"Now, why did you both call me out this morning?" Taehyun puts his hands on his hips and tilts his head, and his eyes widen as he watches Hojung slip to the space beside San, reaching out for his hands. Taehyun clears his throat, averting his gaze and striding over to the swings, sitting down on it and nearly losing his balance but managing to catch himself on time. He gives Hojung and San what he thinks is a serious look, San's eyes are sparkling behind the frames, "You know what, don't say anything else. Just explain what happened."

They tell him that San and Hojung are roommates (that, Taehyun knows), and that they don't really know what happened or when the feelings developed, and that it just started when Hojung came back to their dorm room with another guy and San told him off with the reason that the guy isn't a good person. Taehyun zones out when they're telling him the specific details, but learns that they officially got together just the week before.

"Well." Taehyun says as soon as they finish, "I won't say that you guys are terrible for each other, but I don't want to give you the satisfaction by me saying that you guys match well."

San snorts. “Fine. How’s your song?”

Taehyun shrugs, “It’s turned out fine.”

“Did you finally get someone to sing it for you?” San tilts his head, and Taehyun thinks he can see some slight sympathy. “Sorry I couldn’t. I was busy.”

“At you least you had a reason to not help me out.” Taehyun rolls his eyes and shoots a pointed glare at Hojung.

“Shut up, I was busy, too!” Hojung claims defensively before letting go of San's hand and sitting down on the empty swing beside Taehyun, swinging himself back and forth. Taehyun sighs. He’s not going to bring that up anymore. Past is past. His song is already submitted, there’s no need for him to think about it anymore.

San brings it up again, though, kicking at the sand. "Who sang it for you?" A pause for San to flip his brown fringe back. "Unless you sang it yourself?"

"I found someone."

"Someone we know?"

Taehyun shakes his head, “I doubt-”

Hojung interrupts, “How do you know him, then?”

“He was walking past the studio and I asked him to sing my song.”

Hojung gives Taehyun a look, that look that Hojung always gives Taehyun when he thinks Taehyun is joking (which is actually often) and San coughs. It sounds too much like a laugh. Taehyun raises his eyebrows.

“Is that so hard to believe?”

Hojung tears his gaze away and San clears his throat, “A little, yeah. It's not like you.”

 

 

Sungwoon spends the most of his weekend in his room, playing the instrumental music of Taehyun's song and singing along with it. He's stopping every few bars to continuously correct his pronunciation and tone. It's half past three on a Sunday when a knock comes on his door and he goes to answer it, barefooted and wearing pajama pants with a ratty shirt.

He's been lying on his bed all day, honestly. He hasn't even done much except lie down and go to the bathroom.

It's Moonkyu.

Moonkyu.

Sungwoon nearly slams the door in his face if only Moonkyu didn't laugh and snap his fingers in front of Sungwoon's face, grinning widely. He's wearing casual clothes, matched with white sneakers and a black cap. Sungwoon doesn't open the door wider for him, and Moonkyu laughs before tugging off his shoes while standing in the hallway before pushing past Sungwoon.

"I asked for your room number from someone else since you never mentioned it." Moonkyu informs him before proceeding to sit on the edge of Sungwoon's bed.

"You're here." Sungwoon blinks, walking slowly into his room.

"I am," Moonkyu grins at Sungwoon standing awkwardly in his own dorm room. "Is that really so surprising?"

"Aren't you busy?"

Moonkyu hums, "I am, but I normally just sleep on Sundays and I thought that maybe I should come see you first before your thesis showcase. How's the song going?"

"It's alright," Sungwoon hums. He practices it a few times a week, he's not sure how he can practice it more, but he thinks if he can incorporate something else into the song, it would be good. It's already good enough to his ears by now.

Moonkyu reaches over for Sungwoon's blue cloud patterned pillow. "Are you just going to sing it?"

Moonkyu looks so at home, it's like Sungwoon is the visitor to the dorm room. He is now absentmindedly turning the pillow around in his arms. "This pattern is cute. It’s so you." He looks up. Frowns. "Why are you just standing there?"

Finally, Sungwoon goes over and sits crossed legged on the space beside Moonkyu. He's silent for a few moments before blurting out, "I missed you."

Moonkyu twists to look at him, then laughs and hands the pillow to Sungwoon, "I missed you, too, Woon,"

There's a friendliness and warmth in Moonkyu's smile as Sungwoon takes back the pillow. He knows the way Moonkyu tells Sungwoon tells him he misses him isn't the way Sungwoon probably means it.

Nevertheless, Sungwoon smiles, takes the chance to curl up into Moonkyu's side, persuading himself to think of it, of all this, as something friendly. He may like guys, but no.

No, he doesn't like Moonkyu. He can't like Moonkyu. Not now, not ever again.

Moonkyu spends the whole afternoon at Sungwoon's dorm room, even staying late enough to grab dinner with him. It's a comfortable time, and Moonkyu had even given Sungwoon tips for his thesis, suggesting that maybe he can do some sort of performance to match the song. He had suggested something like a shadow dance, or a modern dance even though he knows Sungwoon doesn't really dance.

"I'll help you, I promise!" Moonkyu had said when Sungwoon told him he'd really rather not dance. "We'll find a way."

_We._

Sungwoon has to admit that the term "we" made his heart feel warm. It's nice to know that even if Moonkyu is always busy, it's not just a Moonkyu and a Sungwoon, but a them. It's nice to know that it was, is and always has been a them.

 

 

"Showcase tickets!" Taehyun runs in the studio just before the clock strikes two in the afternoon on a Monday, waving a sealed envelope in the air and locking the studio door behind him as he enters. He doesn't mind Donghan and Sungwoo's raised eyebrows. Fortunately, Justin doesn't seem to notice anything and bounds up to Taehyun as he unseals the envelope and hands everyone on his team two tickets each.

"Did you just lock the door?" Donghan asks incredulously when he takes his pair of tickets from Taehyun, looking at them once before raising them, "Anyway, someone can take my tickets. I don't need them."

"Can I have one?" Justin pipes up, walking over to Donghan with a sheepish smile. "I want to give one to my friend from my Korean academy."

"You can take both–" Donghan is handing them over to Justin when Taedong cuts in, arriving at Donghan's back. "You should keep one."

"Nope, nope, Justin, you can take both of them."

Justin is looking to and fro the two boys awkwardly. "I only need one, though."

"And you can take both–" Donghan insists. Taedong plucks one ticket out of Donghan's hands and gives it to Justin.

"You need to invite him, bitch." Taedong spats before stalking off to put his tickets in his bag.

By the time Taedong comes back, Taehyun has finished handing out the tickets and is already standing with his phone connected to the speaker. Junwoo kneels down to double knot his shoelaces, Justin comes bouncing back from storing his tickets in his backpack, and Sungwoo is stretching his arms. Taehyun waits until they get into formation before speaking.

"Junwoo, you go first. We're going one on one today."

Taehyun's in the front, and even if his primary focus is the way his team members dance one by one before he starts training their teamwork and how they look as a team, he can still see Taedong and Donghan arguing in hushed whispers in the corner. Sungwoo is standing in front of the mirror about five meters away from the dancing Junwoo and following the tips Taehyun is giving Junwoo while Justin is intently watching them in silence.

It's Sungwoo's turn when Donghan suddenly gets up and stalks out of the studio, slamming the door loudly behind him. Taehyun raises his eyebrows at Taedong, "What was that?"

"He's being too dramatic. Jesus, I think he's PMS-ing." Taedong sighs then pushes himself up to his feet, "Hold on, I'll go after him."

Taehyun nods turns back slowly to Sungwoo as Taedong rushes out of the studio after his friend. Junwoo opens his mouth to ask if he can follow after them as well and Taehyun waves his hand dismissively. They can go after Donghan if they want.

"Just bring him back." Taehyun calls and Junwoo salutes as he runs out. Taehyun puts his hands on his hips and looks at the remaining two people in the room with him. "Guess it's just us three now. Justin, get in line."

It doesn't take long for Junwoo and Taedong to bring Donghan back, but when Donghan returns, his head is lowered and he's shaking off Taedong's questions. Donghan drops himself into the corner of the studio once again, and Taedong shoots Taehyun a look that he and Junwoo can handle whatever is going on by themselves. So, Taehyun continues fixing Justin and Sungwoo's movements for the next ten minutes before letting them rest and going over to crouch in front of Donghan.

"Are you okay, kid?"

Donghan is sniffling when he nods, but he stands himself up, rubbing at his eyes. "I can dance, don't worry. I don't need no boy ruining my life."

"You don't look okay." Taehyun notes, seeing how Donghan is still teary-eyed. He glances at Junwoo and Taedong before returning to fix his gaze on the crying taller boy. "Are you sure you can dance?"

Donghan insists that yeah, he can dance, and Taehyun doesn't ask anymore questions. Donghan can dance, he does it well, and he's put so much obvious effort and energy into learning the dance properly over the weekend that Taehyun doesn't know what to fix anymore aside from some minimal minor movements. When it's Taedong's turn, Donghan slumps back to his seat as Junwoo sits beside him.

"Is he okay?" Taehyun murmurs to Taedong. Taedong shakes his head, then gives a shrug. The action is confusing. Taehyun's not really sure what that's supposed to mean.

 

 

Taehyun doesn’t know how fast time is passing by. It’s just speeding by in blurs of classes and thesis practices while occasionally sneaking naps inside the library or inside a campus cafe during breaks. He goes back to their dorm room every night in the wee hours of the morning, only having a few hours of sleep because he has to get up for class in the morning.

So honestly, he doesn’t know if he has been dreading thesis showcase week or if he has been anticipating everything to be over with already.

His team has received possibly felt too much of his OCD already, and he knows that he might be going too hard on them, especially Donghan with whatever problems he has, but it’s his thesis. He can’t afford to mess his actual thesis performance up like what happened during the check in.

He should just treat the kids out for a meal after this is all over with.

Donghan’s the one helping him pick out the outfits they’ll have for the performance, and he meets up with Taehyun on a warm Wednesday afternoon right by the campus gate the week before the actual performance. Donghan is busy with his own schoolwork, so Taehyun really appreciates him coming out to shop with him, even with Donghan’s schedules and puffy bloodshot eyes.

“You look terrible.” Taehyun comments, to which Donghan gives him a glare. “Do you not sleep?”

Okay, so maybe he’s really not an amazing person at expressing his affections. He’s never been an affectionate person, really.

“Of course I sleep.” Donghan tells him shortly, before tossing his arm around Taehyun’s shoulder as they start walking down the sidewalk. “What are we supposed to be looking for today? Any specific style you’re looking for?”

“Something simple,” Taehyun scratches the back of his head, “Monotone colors, I guess? Would that look good?”

“We should have brought everyone to pick out something they liked for themselves.” Donghan shakes his head. “We can’t just style everyone according to what we think is nice. What if it looks pretty to us but actually looks terrible on them?”

Eventually, Taehyun and Donghan just end up sitting in a cafe after walking through a few shops and deciding that monotone colors should be safe to go with. They did buy some bandannas for their performance, so Taehyun doesn’t think the afternoon will completely go to waste. Donghan has just gotten up to retrieve their drinks and silently sets down the tray before sitting down in his seat across from Taehyun.

“I hope you’re doing better emotionally, Donghan?” Taehyun starts after taking a sip from his iced latte.

Donghan sets down his chocolate frappe and gives him a small smile, “Yeah, much better than the first time.”

Taehyun takes another sip, a longer one, before clearing his throat. “Do you want to talk about it? I’m just worried about you,” Donghan’s eyes widen.

“Ah, no, it’s alright. I don’t want to bother you.”

Taehyun chuckles, “Honestly, though, it looks like I’m bothering you by asking you to come out and shop with me when we didn’t even get to buy anything because it’s just the two of us. If you want, you can let out some of your thoughts here.” He gives Donghan a kind smile (or at least, he feels it’s a kind smile). “We might not talk much in practice, but I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to.”

“It’s just some stupid problems, I’m fine.” Donghan laughs, the sound sounding more awkward than what Donghan might have been aiming for. Taehyun tilts his head in curiosity and Donghan insists, “I’m fine, really.”

Taehyun stares at him for a few seconds before shrugging, "Whatever you say, kid."

 

 

Sungwoon learned to play an instrument over two weeks after practicing nonstop. Now, all he has to do is to play and sing at the same time. That shouldn't be so hard, right? It should be easier than making his own choreography, right? Jaehwan taught him the basics of holding and strumming a guitar and even made up the chords for him, and left him to learn the song all on his own after deeming Sungwoon's strumming acceptable.

So now, Sungwoon basically lives in the music room because he doesn't have his own guitar and can't be bothered to buy himself one when he's only going to use it for one performance.

When his practices run late, he usually calls Moonkyu and asks for some tips and half the time, Moonkyu picks up. The other half, Sungwoon's songs practices go to Moonkyu's voice mail and Moonkyu just replies and comments on it through a text message. Every message Moonkyu sends, though, and every call ends with 'You worked hard, Woon. This will turn out well', especially when Sungwoon's practice songs are cut short by him accidentally strumming the wrong string.

On the last day before the thesis showcases week start off with the freshmen and sophomore vocals, Moonkyu picks up the call, gives him some last minute pointers and asks to confirm the time and date of the vocal majors' showcase. Sungwoon tells him all the information he needs, and asks if he can come earlier for the moral support before the showcase starts.

Moonkyu just laughs. Promises he'll try his best to be early. Swears that he'll be there sitting in front of the audience when Sungwoon performs. It brings a smile to Sungwoon's face, especially since his own mother didn't even send a reply or any sort of message at all. It's far too late for his mother to even send him anything; Sungwoon might as well be disowned from his family tree already.

Sungwoon ends the call with a soft, happy smile on his face. "Good night, Moonkyu. See you soon."

 

 

Taehyun tosses his pair of showcase tickets to Sanggyun and Kenta who are focused on the phone settled in between them on the couch before stalking inside his own room after telling them to come see his performance. Sanggyun and Kenta's performances will finish before his, and that gives them enough time to sleep before they go watch Taehyun's.

Besides, he'll be watching theirs, too, so it's a fair trade. He'll be watching all of his teammates' own performances within the week, so they'll just have to squeeze in some last minute run throughs at the crack of dawn on the thesis showcase's day so Taehyun can breathe while waiting for their turn.

He's labelled them good enough already. Also, he's drained. He needs sleep and rest, and his perfectionist side has been satisfied with their performance. He ignores the nagging voice in the back of his head that they should go practice some more. He believes in his team.

It's his last showcase. They'll do well. They have to.

He scrolls through his text messages, replying to each and every one of them when he lands on Sungwoon's contact number. There's two inboxed messages from Sungwoon and he hesitates before opening them.

**_Hello, I know this might be so sudden but I'm going to sing your song with a guitar. I hope you don't mind_ **

**_Good luck for the showcase by the way :) Cheers to doing well!_ **

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Phase: Full Moon**

 

 

Everything was supposed to go smoothly after they finished the final dress rehearsal, but a button on Junwoo's shirt popped and Justin lost his handkerchief. So Taehyun is busy running around with Justin at his heels and looking for a spare piece of cloth that can pass as a handkerchief, while all the others are trying to find a way to stick Junwoo's button back on his shirt without a sewing kit.

They're hopeless.

The performances started an hour after their rehearsal, and Justin only realized his handkerchief was gone right when the first performance was starting. They're fifth on the lineup, and Taehyun is full on panicking by now. Right now, it's the third performance, and Justin suddenly exclaims out loud to run and duck underneath one of the tables and to reappear with his missing handkerchief.

Justin is smiling apologetically. Taehyun just stares, and Justin laughs nervously before reaching over. "You're sweating, Taehyun, I think you need to retouch your eyeliner."

Taehyun walks over to the mirror to check his eyeliner, but accidentally bumps his hip against the table when one of the freshman volunteers (it's for extra credit) suddenly pokes her head inside the room, "Standby, please." Then she catches Taehyun's eye, who's as pale as a sheet when he realizes they're already next. Her name is Siyeon, he remembers, and she grins. "Good luck!"

He mouths a thank you to her as she leaves. He massages his hipbone, reaching for his own handkerchief with the other and raising his voice to break up the little group of his own teammates huddled around Junwoo.

"Let's go, kids, just let Junwoo's shirt be open at the top. It's a nice look on him, anyway."

Donghan turns and slips the button in his front pocket, shoving the end of his handkerchief in his back pocket as Taehyun ushers them all out of the room and into the crowded corridor. He makes them go up to backstage before he does and just as he's closing the door to their waiting room, he hears someone yell-but-not-really-yell out his name.

It's sort of a hesitant yell, like he's not sure if he should, but he did. "Good luck, Taehyun!"

Taehyun twists to look at whoever it is, and it's a Ha Sungwoon wearing an oversized yellow cardigan over a white shirt and jeans with a guitar slung over his shoulder. He must be performing soon if he’s not already done. Taehyun's voice suddenly isn't working well, so he just mouths a ' _good luck to you, too!’_ ', giving the boy a small smile and a thumbs up before jogging to catch up to his team.

Taedong makes them all do a cheer before they go up, which they do. This kid from the team performing before them gives Taedong a quick side hug before going backstage again with his team, and Taehyun thinks he can faint right then and there.

It's one performance. It'll most likely, hopefully, should be, will be his last. This is finally the end of his thesis and everything he has to do. After this, he's going to graduate, and he's going to start the next chunk of his life which...is honestly a little terrifying.

Taehyun thinks everything is hazy when he and his team goes up on the stage and they take their positions after a brief introduction of whose thesis this is. There's smoke curling on the floor of the stage, and there's a lot of people and he can't recognize a single one. There's someone behind him whispering at him that he shouldn't be nervous, and he can't recognize the voice because right after the voice speaks, the music starts, and Taehyun's heartbeat matches the beats of the song.

They can do this. They didn't practice so much just to mess up.

And they don't mess up. The song passes by too fast in a blur, but when it ends, there's beads of cold sweat trickling down the sides of his neck and a wide, relieved smile makes its way onto his lips when Taehyun can finally hear the audience's reactions, and they're cheering.

Taehyun nearly trips down the stairs going down from the stage and nearly gets a faceful of the floor if only Sungwoo and Justin didn't have fast reflexes and caught him in time. He stumbles backwards, into Taedong who puts his hands on Taehyun's shoulders to steady him until they get back to their waiting room and Taehyun drops himself onto an empty chair.

He watches as Donghan goes to check his phone immediately before he rushes out again, the door shutting behind him with his phone in hand before Taehyun buries his head in his arms and lets out a big sigh of relief. Justin walks over and pats the crown of his head while chuckling. "You worked hard, Taehyun."

Taehyun peeks up at Justin and smiles a wider, more relaxed smile than he's probably given anyone for the past few weeks.

"You guys did great, too. Thank you."

Junwoo, Taedong and Sungwoo smile over at him from where they're sitting a few meters away from him, and Taedong gives him a thumbs up and a big grin. "Congratulations on completing your thesis performance."

A knock suddenly comes on the door and it opens, to Ha Sungwoon popping his head in and scanning the room, a shy smile on his face when his eyes land on Taehyun. Taehyun's eyes widen just slightly as he pushes himself from his chair and goes over to Ha Sungwoon, who goes out of the room, over to the end of the corridor (they pass by Donghan and someone Taehyun recognizes as Im Youngmin’s roommate? Boyfriend?) and leaning against the wall casually. Taehyun mirrors his action, on the wall opposite.

It's just then that Taehyun notices that the guitar isn't hanging off of Sungwoon's shoulder anymore.

Sungwoon smiles. "You performed good, I presume?"

"My team did great," Taehyun nods, pride suddenly swelling in his chest, and Taehyun decides to ask, "What's your performance order?"

"I was originally seventh." Sungwoon chuckles, shrugging against the wall. "I don't know what happened, but they moved me back to eleventh, unfortunately, but anyway, I'm cool with it. More practice for me, right?"

Taehyun tilts his head, placing his hands in his pockets. "Aren't you nervous?"

Sungwoon snorts. "Of course I'm nervous. It's my thesis performance, I'm going to be playing your song, which no one really knows, with a guitar and I don't even play the guitar. I'm absolutely terrified."

Taehyun cracks a smile. "There's a first time for everything, right?"

"Yes, but first times shouldn't be done at moments that could potentially endanger your college diploma. I'd like to finally leave this place, thank you very much."

Taehyun nods, confirms the truth. Opens his mouth to suggest something, but closes his mouth again. Sungwoon notices it, raises an eyebrow.

"What?"

Taehyun shakes his head. It's a stupid idea. He doesn't want Sungwoon's efforts to just go to waste. "It's nothing."

Sungwoon laughs. "Just say it already."

"Do you want me to play an instrument for you while you sing? Do they have a piano or something?"

Ha Sungwoon promptly chokes over nothing before excusing himself and saying that he'll go check if there's a piano somewhere. He runs off with the hem of his cardigan flying behind him, much to Taehyun's amusement.

He's very cute.

 

 

Sungwoon comes running back a few minutes later, panting and waving his hands around wildly while exclaiming that _‘yes, there is a keyboard that we can borrow from one of the girls in the same waiting room as me!'_ Taehyun chuckles, "We should go practice, even just to test out how it sounds."

"We should." Sungwoon nods.

Then Sungwoon leads him into a waiting room just a few doors away from their own. Taehyun notices that this one is much smaller than theirs but holds more people. There's four people in this room, but Taehyun presumes they're all performing solo or in pairs. Sungwoon strides over to a girl sitting in the corner by a table, waving his hands around as he speaks, and the girl motions over to the table, where there's a keyboard piano sitting on top of it alone.

Taehyun is motioned to come over to where Sungwoon is, and he maneuvers through the plastic chairs and bags littered on the floor, his foot catching on the strap of a gym bag once before he stumbles over to Sungwoon. Sungwoon smiles eagerly at him, Taehyun thinks it's a little nervous.

"I can really just-" Taehyun's eyes widen, trying to make eye contact with the girl who owns the piano. She just glances over and waves dismissively.

"You can, don't worry!" Sungwoon chuckles awkwardly. Taehyun nods slowly, then tries to remember all the keys he has to press for the song.

Fortunately, what he made was a simple melody, so it isn't really that difficult although he did have to repeat the base melody a few times before he got everything right. Someone calls someone out from the room to go on standby and that means that Sungwoon's turn is coming up pretty soon.

Sungwoon coughs into the back of his hand. Taehyun raises his eyebrows, "Are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine- Just a little... Nervous. The one that went out to go standby performs right before I do."

"I don't think we'll have time to rehearse it together, then."

Sungwoon runs his tongue over his lower lip at Taehyun's statement, color draining out of his face before he starts slapping himself to get the redness back in his cheeks. Taehyun bites back a chuckle.

"Let's just do it in one go, then."

Taehyun's jaw drops slightly, "No, you still have your guitar-"

"But you're already here, pressing on a keyboard." The tips of Sungwoon's lips curl up just slightly. He does look terrified, if Taehyun were to be honest. "I think I'll fuck up the strumming if I do perform with a guitar, though. Or I'll fuck up my singing while I strum, and I don't know what's worse. What if I forget how to strum? What if I forget the chords? What if I forget the lyrics? My friend is out there watching and-"

"You won't fuck up." Taehyun promises him, even though he's never even heard Sungwoon strum.

Sungwoon is rambling by now. "What if I embarrass myself? I'll never live it down for the rest of my life! What if I fuck this up and and I don't graduate? What if my mother came-"

"Sungwoon, please." Taehyun interrupts, his voice softening when he gets the other's attention fully focused on him.

Sungwoon's eyes are wide and his breathing is short. He looks extremely nervous, from the way he's rolled his sleeves up and is wiping his palms on his jeans, and the from the way he's biting his lips.

Taehyun gives Sungwoon the most reassuring smile he can muster. "You can do this, you prepared for this."

Sungwoon doesn't speak for a few seconds. "Can't you just go up there with me?"

"What's the use of me going up if I already performed? If you're going to bring the guitar? Besides, I look terrible, I’m sweaty and-"

"Then I won't bring the fucking guitar!"

Sungwoon looks panicked, and Taehyun briefly wonders if that's how he looked like earlier right before his own performance. "This is your performance, though, not mine."

"Yeah, and this is your song, not mine. What if I ruin your song right in front of everyone?"

Honestly. Taehyun doesn't really mind if Sungwoon ruins his song in front of people, he got a grade for it, and that was all he was looking for, but Sungwoon looks so desperate to have someone with him, and so scared that he'll mess up, that that's the only reason why Taehyun bites his tongue. Taehyun could care less about his own song, but this is Sungwoon's thesis, someone else's whole future on the line.

That doesn't mean he can't improvise, though.

"You know what." Taehyun suddenly says, and Sungwoon tilts his head. "You bring the guitar, I'll go up with you on that stage. I'll bring the keyboard if you want me, too, but I won't promise to play it. If you mess up in any part, though, I'll cover for you. I don't sing well, but I'll sing."

At that, Sungwoon's face considerably brightens, and Taehyun closes his eyes, bites his lip, wondering what the fuck did he just get himself into. Taehyun doesn't even know if he still remembers the lyrics to the song.

When Taehyun opens his eyes, Sungwoon's smiling just slightly, and Taehyun can sense him trembling, but Sungwoon nods. "Let's do that, then."

Taehyun sincerely wishes that he won't fuck up. He _so_ did not prepare for this.

"Ha Sungwoon? Standby, please."

 

 

“I’m a vocal major Ha Sungwoon, and this is my friend from the dance department, Roh Taehyun. You might recognize him because he already performed earlier, but he’s performing with me, as well, because the song I will- I mean, _we_ will be performing is his self-composed and self-written song. I hope you’ll enjoy listening. Thank you.”

 

 

Sungwoon did well. He may have forgotten some lines of lyrics and missed the starting beat where Taehyun had to sing in his place, but he didn't forget to strum even once, which is an amazing thing in itself. Not perfect, but well enough. Taehyun didn't even have to touch the keyboard.

Sungwoon slumps down with his back to the wall the moment they get back in the corridor, with someone slipping past them and rushing because she's performing next. Taehyun squishes himself to the other side of the wall to let the girl pass before crouching down in front of Sungwoon.

"I'm fucked." Sungwoon groans. Then proceeds to rub harshly at his eyes with his palms. "I'm fucked. I'm going to have to go through another year, do my thesis again. I'm fucked."

"You're not." Taehyun tells him firmly. "You did well."

"Not well enough."

Taehyun reaches over, circling his hand around Sungwoon's wrist and trying to stop Sungwoon's from rubbing his eyeballs out. Sungwoon jerks as if he's been burnt, and Taehyun retrieves his hand, embarrassed.

"Sorry."

"I'm fucked." Sungwoon repeats a third time and suddenly jerks his head to the side when he hears someone calling his name, his eyebrows knitting together. Sungwoon abruptly stands up, and the suddenness causes Taehyun to fall back on his ass.

Taehyun winces and pushes himself up from the floor as an unfamiliar person comes into view, rushing over to a surprised Sungwoon. Taehyun thinks he's probably seen this man around before, but he doesn't know who he is. He presumes he's one of Sungwoon's friends, and takes this as his cue to leave.

The man, however, stops him before he can sneakily slip away. "So, you're Taehyun? You made a pretty good song. Thanks for saving Sungwoon, by the way. He's been really worried for this thesis recently."

Taehyun freezes. Should he bow? Should he greet and introduce himself?

Fortunately, the man catches his unsure expression and laughs, holding out his hand for a handshake. "I'm Moonkyu, Sungwoon's ex-roommate and his childhood friend."

Taehyun clears his throat, unfreezing and reaching over to shake Moonkyu's hand. "I'm Taehyun and I, uh, I should be getting back to my friends now." He bows awkwardly to Moonkyu then gives Sungwoon a wave. "See you around, I guess?"

Sungwoon smiles slightly, nods, waves back. "Thanks a lot for everything, Taehyun."

When Taehyun gets back inside their own waiting room, Sungwoo and Justin are gone. Taedong, who is sitting next to a sulky Donghan whose head is on Junwoo's lap, tells Taehyun they've gone to meet up with friends, and informs Taehyun that his own friends have been entering and leaving every single waiting room just to find him.

Taedong grins, "They're quite loud. I don't know how you didn't hear them. I haven't met them yet, but Donghan bumped into them on his way back from the toilet. You should meet them."

Taehyun decides to not go look for his friends and sits down on the armrest of the couch, jutting his chin in Donghan's direction. "What happened to Donghan?"

Junwoo looks down at Donghan, carding his fingers through Donghan's hair. "Can I tell him?"

"Whatever," Donghan sighs before bringing his hands up to cover his face, kicking his feet so that they're now hanging off of the couch. Junwoo looks at Taehyun, licking his lips before saying, "I gave one of my tickets to Donghan's one night stand who apparently has a boyfriend. They talked after our performance-"

"And now, Donghan is a sulky piece of shit." Taedong finishes.

Taehyun raises an eyebrow, "Im Youngmin's roommate? He’s Donghan's one night stand?"

Taedong shrugs. "For Donghan's excuse, they were both drunk and Donghyun didn't try to stop him when Donghan kissed him. He said it's Donghyun's fault as much as it is his."

"His roommate's told us about it." Junwoo tells Taehyun in a stage whisper, "Donghyun was drunk as hell. Youngmin was passed out on a sofa. Donghan and Donghyun disappeared to somewhere. Donghan was gone by the morning."

"You had a guy cheat on his boyfriend without knowing it." Taehyun summarizes, directing it to Donghan and looking at Junwoo and Taedong for confirmation. Donghan mutters under his breath for Taehyun and Junwoo to stay quiet. Taedong shrugs again.

Taehyun leaves Donghan to his sulking on Junwoo's lap and is just about to check his phone for any messages, or to look for his two friends, when said two friends come barging in the room and yelling for Taehyun.

Kenta throws himself at Taehyun when he sees him, nearly toppling Taehyun with the force. (Taehyun pretends he didn't see the way Sanggyun's eyebrows disappear into his fringe.) "You did amazing! I loved it!"

"Kenta, you're crushing me." Taehyun chokes out, and Kenta laughs, pulling away with a wide grin. Taehyun then calls Sanggyun over, tossing his arms over each of their shoulders and pulling them down to his height.

Taehyun grins as he says in a low voice, "I'm treating us food. Just the four of us."

"Four? Who's the other?" Sanggyun immediately asks, in a much louder voice than Taehyun would have preferred, but he answers him anyway.

"Sungwoon."

"Ah, that guy. The music major." Kenta nods.

Sanggyun suddenly bursts out laughing, "You must like him a lot if you're going to include him."

"He's a friend." Taehyun raises his eyebrows. "And he worked hard to practice my song for his thesis, I feel like I should be giving him something,"

Sanggyun snorts, "And you're giving him free food?"

"Yes. I don't want to be a third wheel between you both, either, so I'm asking Sungwoon if he wants to come eat with us later."

Kenta splutters, face bright red. "Taehyun!"

 

 

Sungwoon had only been slightly guilty for rejecting Roh Taehyun's offer to come and eat with him and his friends, deciding to eat dinner with Moonkyu even if Moonkyu himself was already telling him to go eat with Taehyun and friends.

Maybe he should have just listened to Moonkyu because they ended up sitting in the same meat restaurant as Taehyun and his friends did, and Taehyun's two friends had successfully persuaded Moonkyu to let Sungwoon eat with them because it's Taehyun's treat anyway. Moonkyu had also told Sungwoon just then that he better get home because he still has some work to finish up on, leaving after giving Sungwoon a hug and a fond pat on the cheek.

Sungwoon doesn't think he has ever felt more betrayed by Moonkyu.

Moonkyu has always been there through all Sungwoon’s up and downs in life, from when Sungwoon started getting bullied for liking guys and when even his own mother was so disappointed in him and until Sungwoon entered college. Moonkyu’s always been there for every major happening in Sungwoon’s life, so this really shouldn’t be much. It’s just one dinner. Besides, Taehyun's treating.

It's perfectly fine.

Except for the fact that, well, the first thing he's asked is, "What's your sexuality? Are you gay?" and Sungwoon promptly drops his spoon onto his cup of rice with a loud clatter.

Sanggyun still finds it funny, nodding, "Panicked gay confirmed."

Taehyun probably kicks Sanggyun underneath the table, from the way Sanggyun yelps loudly, "Shut up, idiot."

Kenta clears his throat, "Sorry for him."

"It's..." Sungwoon falters for a second before coughing, "It's okay."

Sungwoon isn't really fazed or worried by that. These people don't seem homophobic in any way. It's okay. He's grown up, gotten used to these sort of things, even though he's not usually asked that this casually.

Kenta tilts his head, "You're really okay, right? I'm sorry for Sanggyun."

He then proceeds to elbow Sanggyun, as well, who winces. "Sorry if that's a touchy topic. Taehyun doesn't like that topic, either. He's not interested in relationships."

Taehyun mutters under his breath, "You've been in a relationship for one week and you're acting like you've dated a lot."

Sungwoon doesn't talk much for the entire dinner. He's just silently observing the way Taehyun interacts with both Sanggyun and Kenta, and how Kenta and Sanggyun are seemingly flirting, but Sungwoon can't judge. Sanggyun looks like a generally touchy person, but from the way Kenta blushes deep shades of red at some of Sanggyun's remarks make Sungwoon think that they're both gay for each other and are dating.

Which, from Taehyun's previous statement, they probably are.

It's nearing half past nine when Kenta suddenly brings up the topic of Taehyun's graduation, and Taehyun lets out a little tiny screech sober. Sungwoon snorts at the sound, and Taehyun suddenly slaps his arm from where he's sitting beside Sungwoon.

"Fuck, I can't believe I'm graduating?" Taehyun suddenly says, his voice sounding full and happy, correcting himself mere seconds after he said that. "I mean, _we're_ graduating. Finally."

Sungwoon chuckles awkwardly, "You don't even know your grade yet."

"Yeah, but it probably won't be that terrible that I'll have to redo my thesis, right?" Taehyun grins widely, and Kenta chuckles from where he's sitting right across Sungwoon.

"Congratulations to the both of you."

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Phase: Waning Gibbous Moon**

 

 

Sungwoon had slapped Taehyun's hand away when he was trying to give the worker at the ice cream parlor his card and insisted that he should be the one to pay for their ice cream instead because Taehyun paid for dinner. Sanggyun and Kenta went back to the dorms first, while Taehyun offered to buy Sungwoon some ice cream at the nearby parlor.

"You didn't have to pay for me, too." Taehyun says, chuckling awkwardly as he licks at his cone while they sit at a table in the corner. "Thanks, though."

Sungwoon silently settles himself into the seat across him with a smile, holding his own cone. "Take it as a thank you for earlier."

Taehyun chuckles and raises his cone. "Cheers, Ha Sungwoon. We're graduating." Sungwoon returns the chuckle, weaker, and taps a side of his cone to Taehyun's, anyway.

"I fucked up, though."

"It'll be okay. You did good, anyway." Taehyun promises and proceeds to focus on his ice cream cone, biting at the top before it melts. Sungwoon just silently licks at his own cone. "You're not fucked. You'll graduate." Taehyun adds, hoping his voice comes out in a reassuring tone. Sungwoon doesn't say anything after that, and doesn't speak for a while.

They eat ice cream in silence, Taehyun watching the occasional customer go in the parlor, and watches a particularly loud group of high schoolers enter and walk over to the counter, chattering loudly about what they should order. A small smile forms on his face, remembering his own night outs with Hojung, and occasionally San, during high school.

Taehyun bites at the corner of his cone, starting to eat at it, eyes still trained on the high schoolers. They're still in their uniforms even at this late hour, and they're a whole large group of three girls and five boys.

Sungwoon suddenly twists in his seat and follows his gaze, switching from looking at the high schoolers to Taehyun and smiling slightly. "Ah, high school. How was your high school days?"

"Too focused on getting into college, but did the occasional night run out to eat something with friends." Taehyun replies, nibbling on his cone again before asking Sungwoon, "Yours?"

"Too focused on passing and ignoring people who weren't worthy of my time."

Taehyun's eyebrows go up, "Someone sounds a little conceited."

"Nah, not really, I guess. People didn't really like me back in high school, or in middle school for that matter." Sungwoon says, then takes a large bite of his ice cream, leaving the end of the cone in between his fingers.

"Because you're gay?"

Sungwoon lowers his head, licking at his lips and swallowing. The swallow looks difficult, Taehyun notices.

“Isn't it _always_ because I'm gay? I like _both_ guys and girls, I don't see what's wrong with that and I don't know why they can't get that in their heads. Even my mother doesn’t accept it.”

Taehyun falls silent. He doesn't know what to say to that. Sungwoon sighs, and adds, in a much softer voice. “When Sanggyun asked me earlier, I panicked, okay? He's a nice guy, but everyone was like that in high school, playing with you as if you're this huge...joke.”

“Sanggyun and Kenta are gay.” Taehyun offers, and the corner of Sungwoon's lips perk up slightly.

“Yeah. I guessed that much.”

Sungwoon pops the last bite of his cone into his mouth and points to Taehyun's ice cream, speaking with a full mouth. “Your ice cream is melting. Careful there.” Taehyun then proceeds to wolf down the sad melting remains of his ice cream, Sungwoon looking out of the window of the parlor as Taehyun wipes his sticky fingers with a tissue.

“Let's talk about you now. Are you a homophobe: yes or no?” Sungwoon begins, then coughs, “Wait, that's a stupid question. You live with Sanggyun and Kenta, and you're still talking to me like a normal person. Are you as straight as a metal pole?”

Taehyun blinks. Sungwoon’s expression is very serious, and Taehyun can see two of the high schoolers sitting in a large booth already glancing at them and whispering. Sungwoon doesn't seem bothered; he's just very solemnly waiting for Taehyun's answer while leaning forward in his seat with his hands folded together in his lap.

“I'm straight, but not _that_ straight.” Taehyun finally says, reaching up to scratch the back of his ear. “I guess I've been attracted to guys before, but I never dated any. Never got the chance to, really.”

“And you've dated girls?”

“Few times in high school, yeah.”

Sungwoon snorts, leaning back against his chair. “So much for being too focused to get into college when you were in high school.”

“I was asked out.” Taehyun says defensively.”I didn't want to reject them.”

Sungwoon looks amused, “You're too nice. Did any one of them ever become your girlfriend if you're such a gentleman?”

“Two of them!”

“And how long did they last with you before they ran away screaming?”

Taehyun’s neck flushes a deep red. “I'm not that terrible a boyfriend!”

Sungwoon laughs, and Taehyun rubs his nape, chuckling softly as well. It's ten at night, and there's no people staying inside the ice cream aside from the both of them and the large group of highschoolers. Taehyun hasn't spent a night as calm as this in a while and it's nice.

 

 

Sungwoon decides to call his mother the next morning just for the heck of letting his mother know that he'll most likely be graduating in a few weeks and coming back to her for a while before starting out to look for a job. It shouldn't be so hard. It's his mother, right?

It really shouldn't be so difficult to call his own mother, but it is, so he ends up calling his little sister instead, but the call ends up in her voice message. Sungwoon sighs, standing up from his bed and starting to pace around his room. This time, he properly calls.

This time, his mother picks up after the phone rings only twice. Her tone is clipped, and it's a short conversation. He quite literally only informs her that he's coming back by the end of the month, and that he's graduating. She just hums and tells him where the house keys are for whenever he arrives.

Then she hangs up.

Sungwoon tosses his phone back onto his bed, and it bounces off to near the edge. He sighs and goes after it before he accidentally makes it fall off. His mother hasn't changed at all. She's still the same hostile person who watched him leave to move in the college dorm without saying a single goodbye, and stopped talking to him about his personal life after a middle school classmate snitched on him and told his mother (and pretty much everyone else he knew) that he was gay at their fucking graduation.

When they got home that night, the only question she had asked him was 'who is it?' before she didn't speak to him for the rest of the night, or for the rest of the week. He remembers Moonkyu had come over multiple times that week, and how she had just given him a distasteful look before leaving them alone. Sungwoon confessed everything to Moonkyu while sitting right outside their house's door.

Moonkyu hadn't judged him. He had just smiled and patted his head, and told him there was nothing wrong in liking guys, or girls, or both.

He wishes everyone else thought the same way.

Especially when he receives a sudden message from a girl from his senior class in high school in the middle of the week, inviting him to a reunion in the middle of the coming month. He just replies a 'I'll see if I can go' without any intention of actually going. He's never talked to that girl much before, but she's always been much kinder than the rest.

But even though, he might really not go. He’s not that big on socializing, and he doesn’t think he wants to see how his high school classmates’ lives have turned out at this point in life. He’s never been that close with them anyway; he’s always been that one person who sits at the back of the room alone in every class.

What’s the use of going when you don’t even talk to anyone, right? Besides, if he's spent his entire high school life keeping to himself and ignoring them because they don't deserve any of his time, why should he even bother to go?

A voice in his brain tells him, whispering, "Go. It's a change. They might have changed." At the same time, a more rational part of him is saying louder, overpowering the whispers, "If your own mother hasn't changed, how can high school classmates?"

He trusts the more rational part of himself. It's what he's used to thinking. Things don't just change so easily.

 

 

The next week comes and passes, filled with Taehyun running around and passing forgotten late essays, and ended with Taehyun meeting up with high school friends Junhyuk, San and Hojung. San's constantly sighing next to a brightly smiling Hojung, and Junhyuk is kind and smiley as always.

"I was forced to be here," is the first thing San brings up and he quickly adds, "I have a musical to prepare for. I'm supposed to be going for a rehearsal today if only this idiot-" A jab of his finger at Hojung's cheek, "-didn't lie to our musical director about me being sick today."

"Hojung," Junhyuk laughs, but it's not the typical Junhyuk laugh Taehyun is used to hearing.

Hojung slumps down in his soft cafe seat, and Taehyun chuckles. "He just missed you, Junhyuk."

"And I missed all of you rascals, too, but I didn't lie to anyone to be here, did I?"

San drops his head on the wooden table with a rather loud bang, groaning, "I shouldn't be here."

Eventually, their supposed meet up cuts short because San is groaning about how he should be rehearsing for his musical, and a sudden call received by Junhyuk's phone has him running back to the vocal studio he's working at because someone called in sick too late and can't come in for her appointment. Hojung takes San back to their college by taxi, Junhyuk rushes to the bus stop, and Taehyun decides to slowly walk back to the bus stop and take the bus instead of the subway.

Now that he's finally graduating from college, he's not exactly where to go anymore. Yeah, he's going to look for a job at a dance studio, or maybe start his own with a friend, but then that'll mean he's going to have to start communicating with a whole new group of people in a whole new environment, and he's not sure how to do it properly.

When he gets back to his dorm room after an hour, he finds Sanggyun sitting in Taehyun's open suitcase that he left in the middle of their living room before he left that morning. Sanggyun promptly informs him that Kenta is out having a Korean lesson, and that no, he's not letting Taehyun pack his things to leave them both alone in the dorm room.

The action is cute, but Sanggyun is clingy. Taehyun pushes Sanggyun out of his suitcase with as much as force as he can, and goes to his room to retrieve some of his things, returning to find Sanggyun taking hostage of his suitcase in the kitchen, putting full cereal boxes and milk cartons in the bag.

Taehyun drops a pile of his books on the couch and frowns over at Sanggyun, "What the fuck?"

"You're not leaving." Sanggyun tells him firmly. "Kenta will cry, and I'll have to comfort him for weeks before he'll stop crying."

Taehyun walks over, crouches down next to his suitcase and takes out whatever Sanggyun has thrown in there. Sanggyun stomps his foot and crouches down beside him, reaching for Taehyun's wrist and holding on to it tightly.

"Don't go."

"I'm graduating,"

"But that doesn't mean you have to move out."

Maybe Sanggyun's clingy, but he's rarely clingy and he doesn't show much of his feelings often. Sanggyun is rough and sometimes insensitive with words, and with Taehyun starting to pack up his few things to move out, it's the first time he's seen Sanggyun this soft and clingy in a while.

Taehyun fondly pats Sanggyun on the cheek and stands up, pulling up Sanggyun to his feet, as well. "I'm moving out, whatever you say can't change my mind. I can't live in a college dorm anymore after the end of term."

"But Kenta!" Sanggyun stomps his foot another time.

"You're together, you don't need me third wheeling."

"It's still awkward!"

Taehyun chokes over his own spit at that. "You've lived together for your whole college life and it's never been awkward, and now that I'm leaving you both to your own devices and you can do whatever the fuck you want, you're saying it's awkward?"

Sanggyun nods, his lips forming a pout. "We'll miss you loads, too!" Then he clears his throat, "I mean, uh, he'll miss you loads."

That brings a smile to Taehyun's face as crouches down to zip up his suitcase closed so he can stand it up, "And I'll miss you, too, and moving out day is still in two weeks. I'll still be here."

"But you'll still leave."

Sanggyun follows Taehyun to his room and sits back down in his suitcase. Taehyun gives up packing for the day.

 

 

Taehyun gathers his thesis team members on noon on a Thursday a little over a week before their last day of term to treat them out for lunch. He's just received the comments for his thesis, and he is feeling euphoric because now, he is positive that he's going to graduate and what better way to celebrate than by treating the ones who helped make his thesis a success to a meal, right? He's been too harsh on them while practicing, he really did need to treat them one way or another, and it turned out that everyone was free right when he messaged their group chat.

Donghan was the first one to reply, within mere seconds of Taehyun’s first message and within the next hour, they’re sitting in a high quality meat restaurant Donghan picked out that’s a tad bit more expensive and slightly farther away from campus than Taehyun would have liked. It’s , and Donghan had been bursting with excitement on the fortunately empty subway.

Frankly, Taehyun doesn't know why Donghan chose a restaurant that far from the college, especially one that has quite a number of foreigners. But Donghan just likes eating meat, so maybe that's why.

There's even an instance when a pair of Chinese foreigners sitting at the table beside theirs is quite obviously eyeing someone from their team, and Justin chokes very obviously on a piece of kimchi when the pair of girls giggle. Taedong just laughs, pouring him a cup of water, "What did they say, Justin?"

"Donghan and Sungwoo are handsome."

Taedong bluntly says, "Donghan's gay."

"I can date girls if I wanted to," Donghan pokes him in the side, causing him to squirm in his seat and drop his chopsticks on the table.

"Donghan is too caught up with Kim Donghyun to date anyone at the moment, though," Junwoo says, his voice nearly as low as a whisper. "He hasn't got over him yet,"

"What happened there, anyway?" Taehyun asks conversationally.

"He made it clear that what happened that night was a drunken blunder, and that's he taken so nothing will ever happen between us." Donghan sighs, words coming out in a flurry.

"Donghan likes him." Junwoo confirms, then abruptly changes the topic, "Now, let's talk about you, Taehyun. What are your post graduation plans?"

It's only then that Sungwoo looks up from his plate. He's been quiet for most of the meal, and there's now a smile forming on his lips. "Real talk, though, Taehyun. I'm going to be honest with you and tell you already that jobs are hard to find."

"Don't disencourage him!" Junwoo says loudly. (Maybe a little bit too loudly.)

Sungwoo just laughs, smiling at Taehyun and winking, "I'm disencouraging him so he'll come back and take a masters or something."

Taehyun's eyes widen. He doesn't think he wants to go back to school for another few years to take a masteral, but at the same time, he's pretty tempted to go because he's not sure what to do after graduating. Should he start his own studio? Join one? Dance alone on the streets and hope someone casts him?

When Taehyun voices these thoughts out loud, Taedong suddenly recommends a dance studio he goes to for the summer that's run by a friend from dance camp, while Donghan suggests he just dance on the streets to gain popularity then start working his way up from there. (Sometimes, Taehyun thinks that Donghan really just wants to be an idol instead of a professional dancer.) Justin suggests he go overseas and study more there. Junwoo and Sungwoo both apologize because they don't know much people, aside from people in the modeling department (for Sungwoo).

In the end, they take the subway back to campus and Taehyun still doesn't know what to do after graduation. Maybe he'll just go home, do nothing for a month, then start working on something again.

He'll find a way. He's always managed to, anyway.

 

 

Sungwoon’s with Minhyun and Jaehwan when he gets called to his professor's office in the faculty building, an email coming on his phone with a ding while he’s blasting music that Jaehwan is singing along to in the lounge of the dorm building. His music had abruptly stopped for a split second when the email came in, and Sungwoon had sighed before reaching for his phone on the table.

Jaehwan frowns, “What notification is that for?"

Sungwoon opens and scans the email, then heaves another deep sigh. This time, it causes Minhyun to look up from his book.

"Are you okay?"

"I have to go see my professor for thesis comments." Sungwoon runs his tongue nervously over his lower lip and pockets his phone. "I'll be back."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Jaehwan asks, then quickly adds, "For moral support?"

Sungwoon pauses, thinks about it before he shakes his head no. He'll be fine. It's just comments anyway, right? The email didn't sound so grave anyway that the comments his professor will give him is that he has to repeat another year for his thesis anyway. That doesn't mean he's crossing it out of the many possibilities, though.

He shrugs, keeping his expression as level as he can and running his fingers through his hair, "I'm good. I'll be back in, say, half an hour?"

Jaehwan nods, and Minhyun calls out a soft 'good luck!' before Sungwoon makes his way out of the dorm building and goes to the faculty building with slow heavy steps. His professor is talking to another student when he reaches the door of his office, so Sungwoon waits outside for a few minutes before the other leaves and he enters.

(Fortunately, his professor is smiling when he enters, which means whatever it is, he's not a failure and he's still graduating. Great. He’s not that fucked.)

"Don't look so terrified, Sungwoon, I just want to talk to you about your thesis performance," His professor laughs as he motions towards the chair in front of his desk.

Sungwoon accidentally blurts out, "I didn't fail, did I?"

"No, of course not!" He laughs once again, and Sungwoon then lowers himself into the chai slowly. "I just want to talk about what happened. I feel you were quite lucky to have your friend with you on stage, it would have been something huge if he wasn't."

Sungwoon gives a small smile and lowers his head, only speaking when his professor asks him a question. He listens to the way his professor raves on and on about Taehyun and his song, and thanks his professor when Sungwoon is complimented, even if he's told off for forgetting the first few lines of the song.

"Anyway," his professor clears his throat and opens the drawer of his desk, taking out a folder and pushing it to Sungwoon on top of the desk, "I had to be critical. I couldn't give you a better grade, even though I could see your effort. You passed, and the grade is quite okay but it's worse than your usual. I had to give you props for learning how to play the guitar just for that."

On the header of the paper inside the folder that he's showed, there's a big '84' scrawled and encircled with a red marker.

That's not so bad. It's actually better than he expected, honestly.

"You worked hard, Sungwoon." His professor even adds, and a grin forms on Sungwoon's lips as he closes the folder and pushes it back to his professor, letting out a sigh of relief. "Good job."

When Sungwoon walks out of the faculty building, he’s surprised by Minhyun and Jaehwan running up and crashing into him, a worried expression on each of their faces. Sungwoon’s talked about his thesis worries with them, and they’ve both been unobviously worried. Minhyun notices the happy grin on Sungwoon’s face first and pulls away from their group hug.

“It went well.” Minhyun notes, and Sungwoon’s smile widens even more.

“Yes, it did. I better see you both at my graduation ceremony.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Phase: Third Quarter Moon**

 

 

This time, Kenta is the one sitting in Taehyun’s suitcase. He's more insistent than Sanggyun is, and he climbs back in the suitcase everytime Taehyun pushes him out. Until, well, Taehyun starts dumping his clothes on Kenta's lap. That's when the Japanese boy clambers out, flapping his arms and tossing Taehyun's clothes in the suitcase.

It's a mess, honestly.

Sanggyun's just lying on his side on the couch and drinking from one of Kenta's cartons of strawberry milk stored in their fridge, laughing as he watches Kenta complain about the number of clothes Taehyun has.

Taehyun doesn't even have a lot of things to begin with. He tosses one of his socks in Kenta's direction, "That's already all my clothes minus my pajamas and what I'll wear tomorrow, you fucker!"

Kenta pouts, tossing the lone sock back at him.

"Don't move out, Taehyun."

"Well, I won't have the leisure to stick around here for a whole year. I have to go find work. I don't want to be here when you both start thesis-ing already, too. I don't want to have flashbacks of my own."

Taehyun shoves his sock in one of his suitcase's pockets along with the rest of his socks. The pocket's already bulky, he thinks that he might have more socks than jeans and shorts. With a grunt, he zips the pocket shut and stands up, going to the shoe rack coming back with his three pairs of shoes in their respective boxes. He leaves one pair of dress shoes and another pair of sneakers for the next day.

As a dancer, he's bought many shoes with his pocket money because they always end up becoming worn out. That's probably why he doesn't have much clothes. He never outgrew any of them, and he never needed new ones.

"Taehyun hates us." Kenta sniffs.

Sanggyun chuckles, "He'll never come back to visit us."

"Shut up, I'll visit you both when a blue moon comes out." Taehyun laughs out loud while carefully placing each shoebox in the wide space of his suitcase.

Kenta translates his blue moon statement as, "Which means you'll never come see us again," Then he crawls over to Taehyun's side and wraps his arms around the older's waist, leaning his chin against the older but smaller boy's shoulder. "I'm not letting go of you. You're not leaving."

Taehyun pats the lid of the boxes affectionately then sighs, glancing over at Kenta then looking at Sanggyun. "Get your boyfriend off of me."

"We're not official. Kenta doesn't want to be official." Sanggyun sips at his milk, shrugging his shoulders, but it looks weird because of his current position.

Kenta hums, "It's weird to get together with your best friend, even if we like each other."

"You're both gay." Taehyun says blankly. "What the fuck is with you both?"

Sanggyun then clears his throat. "Kenta's going back to Japan after we graduate, remember? I'm not a fan of those long distance relationships, either."

"So?" Taehyun raises an eyebrow, "If you’re not together, what are you, then?"

"Friends who like each other and kiss?" Kenta says, his tone questioning. It's then that he retrieves his arms from around Taehyun so that he can look over at Sanggyun. Sanggyun pushes himself up from his lying position, draining his milk carton first before answering.

"That's what you want to call us?"

Kenta looks flustered, "What do you want?"

"Look, Kenta, you're the one leading this relationship, whatever this is-"

"You're the one who kissed me first!"

Sanggyun sets his empty carton down on the plush armrest of the couch, "But I always listened to what you wanted!"

"I'm asking you now, though!"

Taehyun cuts in before whatever this is can escalate and he'll never end up getting a proper answer, "Friends who like each and kiss, that’s what you are!"

Before anyone can say anything further, Taehyun rushes off to his room and gathers all his books stacked in a corner, dumping them in a pile in the middle of the living room. "These are all yours now. Keep them or sell them if you want. Rent them out to whoever needs them, I don't care. You'll probably end up needing them next year, anyway."

Sanggyun's eyes considerably widen at the pile and he looks to and from them to Taehyun. "Why can't you keep them?"

"I care about my underclassmen and am giving you all my resource materials and textbooks from this year so you won't have to scrounge around for them anymore. Be grateful, brats."

 

 

Sungwoon finds it hard to pack up his things to go back _home_. This time, it’s not just a visit. He’s actually going to go home for real this time, and he’s not sure how he feels about it.

Home. What a strange word.

Is it too late to move in with Moonkyu or to extend his dorm contract? At least until Minhyun graduates and Sungwoon’s going to crash his apartment to live with him?

It’s eleven in the morning. Sungwoon reaches for his phone and a cap, putting it on and slipping his phone in his pocket. He decides to go get something to eat first. He hasn’t had breakfast that morning. He can pack later.

 

 

“I honestly think drinking when Taehyun graduates tomorrow isn’t a good idea.” Kenta is saying, tugging on Sanggyun’s arm.

“Dont’t fret too much, Kenta. It’s not going to be that bad.” Sanggyun waves him off and leads Taehyun into a restaurant he’s used to avoiding because it looks and feels expensive from the one time he peeked at their iPad menus. It’s double the price of their usual pub in Itaewon.

“Isn’t this place expensive?” Taehyun finally manages to say, Sanggyun holding the open for him and Kenta. “Shouldn’t we just go to our usual?”

“Nope.” Sanggyun says with a grin as he lets the door closed, “You’re graduating, so why not go for something more expensive for once?”

“Are you paying?”

Taehyun notices the way Sanggyun’s adam’s apple bobs up in his throat as he swallows nervously and is just about to leave the pub when Sanggyun roughly pushes him back by his shoulders, flipping his fringe from his eyes. “Yeah, I’m paying.”

Kenta coughs, “If you say so.”

“Why do we always go to the places with a lot of foreigners?” Sanggyun suddenly asks.

“Kenta’s a foreigner.” Taehyun points out, following Kenta to the bar, where the bartender smiles at the pair of them. Sanggyun is at his shoulder again, peeking at the menu.

“No, I mean, a lot of foreigners. Western, too.” Sanggyun asks persistently.

“I have no idea about you and your kinks. You seem to like foreigners and foreign things. That's why we ended up here, and back in Lord at Itaewon, Christ.” Taehyun says, eyes scanning the menu before swiftly ordering the most expensive drink on it. Kenta follows with an order of a drink that's almost as expensive.

Sanggyun chokes on his spit and quickly orders a plate of lasagna and a mojito before tugging them by their arms to sit at a table by the corner. He sits Kenta and Taehyun down nearer the post, and Kenta immediately takes out his phone. He raises his phone to take a photo, and Taehyun poses with a v sign beside him.

Kenta announces he's posted the photo on his Instagram, and Taehyun takes out his phone as well, telling him he's already liked the photo and left a comment. Taehyun also slaps his arm and bursts out laughing, and Sanggyun wonders what's so funny about a single photo.

When Sanggyun opens his Instagram, he chokes on the complimentary lemon water that he's chosen just at that moment to take a sip from. Kenta's taken a candid photo of Sanggyun as well, and uploaded it.

 **rkm0855:** **_congrats to one of my favorite friends, taehyunie, for graduating soon! im such a proud friend❤ sanggyun's treating us dinner and karaoke, yay! i love him SO MUCH  
_**

Sanggyun puts down the water glass, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and ignoring the fluttery feelings from Kenta's caption. "I did not mention anything about karaoke!"

"Well now you have to treat us because it's on the Internet!" Kenta cheekily winks at him, and Sanggyun sputters.

"Kenta!"

"Oh, come on, it's Taehyun's last day! He's going to be having dinner with his family tomorrow after graduation, you'll never see your friend again!"

Taehyun suppresses a laugh, just as the owner of the pub brings their drinks and food to their table, watching Sanggyun's serious expression crumble right in front of his lasagna. With a deep sigh, Sanggyun eventually agrees to the karaoke. Taehyun coughs into his fist, "You whipped fucker."

Sanggyun rolls his eyes, "You'll understand this feeling when you fall in love, too."

"No," Kenta laughs, "You're just weak."

Taehyun snorts.

"Why are you both bullying me?" Sanggyun lets out a wail, stomping his feet on the floor like a child, and Taehyun bursts out in another feat of loud laughter. Fortunately, the pub is deserted at half past five on a Friday so no one hears how loud they are. "I don't deserve this slander! I shouldn't pay for the both of you!"

Kenta singsongs, waving his phone in front of Sanggyun's face teasingly, "It's on the Internet already," Sanggyun's lower lip juts out in a pout as he reaches for his mojito.

"It's not that hard to edit a caption, Kenta," He rolls his eyes, carefully turning his glass and watching the liquid slosh around, "You're lucky I love both of you, so I'll treat you anyway." Then he drinks.

Taehyun chuckles, raising his drink. "Cheers, Sanggyun."  Kenta taps his glass to Taehyun's, grinning widely as he suddenly says, "Love you, Gyun."

Needless to say, Sanggyun chokes on his mojito as well, his face and ears turning a bright shade of red.

**_  
_ **

 

Ten o’clock.

Sungwoon’s sitting on the floor of his dorm room, wondering if it’s too late to ask the office for a graduation delay. (It probably is.) His clothes are in a pile on top of his bed, but he hasn’t found the energy to throw them in his suitcase yet. His books and everything he used for school is already in the suitcase, though. His phone is beside him, occasionally lighting up with a notification from his, Jaehwan’s and Minhyun’s group chat. He’s been ignoring it for the past hour now.

It's only when someone knocks on his door that he pushes himself up from the floor to open it. It's a Hwang Minhyun with two blankets tucked under his armpit and a small plastic bag of food and a Kim Jaehwan with a box of chicken and a large soda bottle.

"You didn't eat dinner, did you?" Jaehwan asks, pushing past Sungwoon to enter his room, Minhyun at his heels. Sungwoon shuts the door slowly before turning to his friends who are now stepping around his suitcase.

Minhyun puts the blankets down on Sungwoon's bed and pushes the pile of clothes into the suitcase with one swift motion. Jaehwan then crouches down to close the lid shut on Sungwoon's suitcase, sitting down on it and grinning widely.

"I'm starting to think you both hate me and want me to leave." Sungwoon blanks.

Jaehwan just laughs, and it's not that normal laugh, it's a whole cackle and Sungwoon takes a step back in surprise. Minhyun then tosses a blanket to Jaehwan, sitting down on Sungwoon's bed himself, "We're just helping you pack because you obviously don't want to go."

"And it's your last night, so we thought to bring you chicken and soda." Jaehwan adds, suddenly standing up as the blanket hits his back and thrusting the box of chicken and soda into Sungwoon's arms.

"This is all mine?" Sungwoon tilts his head at Minhyun as Jaehwan walks past him and into his bathroom, the door shutting closed behind him.

Jaehwan speaks (or yells) from the bathroom, his voice muffled through the usually soundproof door, "Of course not! Minhyun's going to help you pack, I'm going to help you finish the chicken."

Sungwoon puts down the box of chicken and the bottle of soda on his desk, opening the box and taking out a piece. He turns to Minhyun, jerking his head towards the box, and Minhyun just shakes his head.

"I'm good."

"Suit yourself." Sungwoon shrugs, biting on the chicken and chewing before suddenly realizing that Jaehwan didn't give him any cups. "Do we not have any paper cups?"

Minhyun shrugs then crouches down beside his suitcase, opening it again and looking up at him, "Do you have any more things you have to pack?"

Sungwoon swallows, "Socks and shoes." Takes a bite, "Underwear, too."

It's then that Jaehwan chooses to walk out of the bathroom, shaking his hands and saying loudly to Minhyun, waving his hands in front of his face and splashing all of them with droplets of water, "I wash my hands, okay."

Minhyun deadpans, "I didn't ask. Who asked if you washed your hands or not?"

Jaehwan cackles once more and walks over to the box of chicken, taking one before standing by where Minhyun is standing up and walking inside Sungwoon's room. Sungwoon nearly drops the chicken bone he's holding when Minhyun suddenly yells out, "You can pack your own underwear, I'm not touching those!"

"I didn't ask you to pack for me!" Sungwoon calls back.

Minhyun glances back at him, "If I don't pack for you, you're never going to leave this building."

"So you are kicking me out! What kind of friends are you?"

"Friends you can't live without." Jaehwan is then holding the soda bottle by the cap, "Can I open this? Do you have any cups, Sungwoon?"

"No." Sungwoon says shortly. "I have empty water bottles under the desk, though."

That's exactly how Jaehwan ends up ducking underneath Sungwoon's desk to get three empty water bottles and filling each of them with soda. Minhyun comes back, and drops a plastic bag (Sungwoon presumes it's his socks) into the suitcase just in time to see Jaehwan accidentally spill some soda on the dorm room floor.

Minhyun just sighs and sits down on Sungwoon's bed, accepting the overflowing soda bottle handed to him.

Minhyun and Jaehwan don't leave until it's half past midnight because Jaehwan is stubborn and doesn't want to leave Sungwoon alone, and by that time, Sungwoon's suitcase is fully packed except for his underwear and shoes. He can pack those tomorrow.

Sungwoon sets his alarm for six in the morning so he can wash up and pack again properly before the graduation ceremony at ten.

**_  
  
_**

He's screwed.

He's fucking screwed. Why did he forget to set his alarm the night before? Why the fuck is his name at the beginning of the graduating list? Damn his surname. Why couldn't he have been a Lee like Junwoo? Or a Ha like Sungwoon? Or at least with a surname that's part of the second half of the Korean alphabet's consonant list?

Taehyun silently enters the auditorium, ducking and rushing down the steps so he can get to his assigned right in the middle of the third row, squeezing through co-graduates that he doesn't even know the name of. They've got the seating and all that stuff down once last week, so it's no problem for him to find his seat.

Fortunately, for him, the principal of their college has just finished stating his opening remarks, letting him heave heavy breaths in his seat from rushing around all morning. He woke up at nine, leaving him an hour to grab his breakfast and to wash up, get his formal dress clothes on, and to run all the way to the auditorium from the dorms.

Honestly, he doesn't think he even brushed his hair. He just jammed his graduation cap on after roughly drying his hair with a towel while shoveling cereal in his mouth at fifteen minutes before ten just twenty minutes ago.

They start going up on stage soon enough for the graduation rite itself, and someone at the very start of the line decided that it would be a nice idea to show off something while going up on stage. Someone had been suggesting it since they checked their seats the other day, and Taehyun didn't really expect anyone to do it.

But they do.

It's why some people end up creating their own catwalk, singing chorales and operas, waacking and more. Taehyun krumps before he goes over and shakes the hand of their principal and accepting his degree, and it's very fun for a graduation. It felt more like a showcase than graduation, and he thinks he'll miss that part of being in a performing arts college.

Somehow, Taehyun still manages to catch Sungwoon's eye when he's going down the stage, Sungwoon grinning and waving wildly at him. Taehyun waves back, and cheers for Sungwoon when he starts singing while going to get his own degree certificate. Sungwoon's voice is that loud that Taehyun can still hear it even over the loud cheers and claps.

He should catch up with Sungwoon after the ceremony ends.

**_  
  
_**

Unfortunately, by the time the ceremony ends, Sanggyun and Kenta have crashed into him when he’s left the auditorium in search for Ha Sungwoon because Taehyun couldn’t find him inside. Sanggyun and Kenta tell him they haven’t Sungwoon either, so Taehyun decides to just go find his mother and sister in the middle of this large throng of people first and leave Sungwoon a message later.

Kenta and Sanggyun are tagging along, and Kenta is chattering excitedly about how excited he is to meet Taehyun’s family at such an important event of Taehyun’s life. Sanggyun is constantly clapping Taehyun on the back and telling him that he is so proud.

Taehyun’s mother hugs him when he sees him, and his sister just gives him a high five, muttering a _‘congrats’_ under her breath.

“Taehyun’s never coming back!” Sanggyun sighs loudly when Taehyun stands in the middle of their dorm living room, suitcase handle in hand. “Can we lock him in his room?”

Kenta pouts, “Auntie, can you ditch Taehyunie and leave him with us?” Taehyun slaps them both upside the head and threatens to nag them in their sleep.

Later on, however, (Taehyun will never admit this but) the three of them end up sniffling, and Taehyun is constantly looking up at the lights and blaming it for his tears. Sanggyun just reaches over to the couch and tosses a throw pillow at his head, and Kenta laughs at the both of them.

Taehyun’s spent most of his college life with them, of course it’ll be weird to just wake up in his own room, jobless but with a degree and without two of his best friends. He’ll definitely miss them both more than he’s willing to admit.

He doesn’t even have the heart to leave after seeing Sanggyun and Kenta teary-eyed. Even his mother suggests that Kenta and Sanggyun live at their house over the summer, something that all of them protest strongly to because it’s _‘embarrassing’_.

Taehyun’s footsteps are heavy as he goes, dragging his suitcase behind him and promising to call his two now ex-roommates.

****

 

* * *

****

 

**Phase: Waning Crescent Moon**

 

 

Sungwoon is still inside the auditorium, just sitting in a row at the very back while everyone else is filing out. His mother came, and he doesn’t exactly know what to say. It’s not every day he sees his own mother visiting him on her own accord.

Sure, he invited her like he always does, but he didn’t expect her to actually come this time.

It’s awkward.

Of course it’s awkward.

He clears his throat, “I have to go back to my dorm to get my things and stuff.”

His mother comes with him when he goes, and he’s a walking half a step ahead of her as she follows. He stops right in his tracks when he sees a certain tall someone standing by his dorm room door, squeezed to the wall opposite. He’s happy to see the taller, of course, but with his mother behind him? Not really.

Sungwoon sees the way Moonkyu takes a step back as if wanting to disappear into the wall as well, but Sungwoon still approaches, and Moonkyu gives him a cautious smile, suddenly folding his hands in front of him. Moonkyu bows when he sees Sungwoon’s mother, softly greeting with a smile, and Sungwoon doesn’t turn around to see his mother’s face.

Moonkyu then turns to him, jerking as if he wants to pat Sungwoon on the head but decides against it, “Congrats on graduating. I thought I should wait for you here, knowing you.”

"Thanks," Sungwoon smiles, then he gestures to the door, "I have to get my stuff." Moonkyu nods, and Sungwoon notices the way Moonkyu’s eyes flit between Sungwoon and his mother.

“I, uh, I should go. Call you later?”

“No, do stay,” Sungwoon flings out his arm to stop Moonkyu from slipping past him because knowing Moonkyu, one, he runs fast. Two, he’s never really liked being around Sungwoon when his mother was there ever since high school.

Moonkyu gives him a look. Sungwoon knows that look and he chuckles, reaching up and patting his shoulder before turning open the door of his dorm room. Sungwoon motions for Moonkyu to come in as well, and Moonkyu takes a step back to let Sungwoon’s mother enter first.

“ _I should go,_ ” Moonkyu mouths at him, pointing to where the elevator is.

Sungwoon gives a tiny jerk of his head.

“ _Just come in!_ ”

Moonkyu gives him a look, but eventually, he comes in Sungwoon’s room anyways. He’s pacing around awkwardly while Sungwoon’s mother is sitting on his bed and Sungwoon is crouching down beside his suitcase. Moonkyu is very obviously avoiding both of their gazes.

When Sungwoon is properly packed, he asks a Moonkyu who is trying too hard to look interested in Sungwoon’s empty blank desk. “Do you want to eat together?”

The older shakes his head, “Nah, I have to get home-”

It’s to all of their surprise when it’s Sungwoon’s mother who interrupts Moonkyu, voice sounding like she’s been thinking hard on what she said, “Eat with us. I want to hear about how you’ve been.”

Moonkyu starts coughing and nods furiously. “I’ll come if that’s what you want, Auntie.”

**_  
  
_**

It surprisingly wasn’t that bad, to be honest.

Moonkyu talked about how he’s been and what he’s been doing, and Sungwoon answered everything his mother asked. It was calm, and Sungwoon had been half expecting a bomb to go off somewhere. Lunch took an hour, then Moonkyu accompanied them home before Sungwoon left the house to spend time with Moonkyu before he left to go home again.

His mother agrees easily enough, waving him out with her hand and giving Moonkyu a small smile she hadn’t earlier. Sungwoon shuts the door closed behind him and they’re a whole block away from their house when Moonkyu lets out a huge breath.

“I was so nervous, what the fuck was that?”

“I didn’t expect her to come, either,” Sungwoon shakes his head then looks around at their surrounding. It’s been a while since he came home, the neighborhood feels both new and familiar at the same time.

Moonkyu notices his expression, chuckles, and points out a cafe on the other side of the road that Sungwoon hasn’t noticed before. “Let’s go get some coffee?”

Sungwoon nods, then proceeds to cross the empty road. Moonkyu jogs after him, overtaking him and holding the cafe door open for him as well. The action strangely makes Sungwoon’s heart flutter, but he firmly ignores it. They order a latte each and waits for their orders before settling down in a seat by the window.

Moonkyu abruptly speaks up, stirring his latte with his plastic straw, “Do you still like me?” He takes off the lid and drinks straight from the cup.

Sungwoon just sipped from his cup when Moonkyu asked and he promptly chokes, swallowing the mouthful and reaching over for a tissue to wipe his mouth. His eyes are still trained on his latte cup.

“What makes you think that?”

“I don’t know. I was just curious. Your mother doesn’t seem so mad at me anymore.”

Sungwoon looks up, eyebrows scrunching together, “It’s weird, isn’t it? I’m not used to it,”

“Well, it’s a nice change,” Moonkyu shrugs, “I mean, it’s not a sin to be gay. You’re just being true to yourself, aren’t you?”

“I’m bi.” Sungwoon corrects.

The edges of Moonkyu’s lips curl upwards, “Sorry. I meant bisexual. I keep forgetting that they’re not really the same.” He takes a long drink, then sets down his cup, folds his hands on the table now. “But be honest, Sungwoon, do you like me?”

“No.” Sungwoon says simply. “I guess not. You’re an old friend and I’ve had this huge gay crush on you before, but I don’t think so, no.”

Moonkyu nods slowly. Sungwoon raises an eyebrow.

“Why do you ask?”

“You know I’m straight,” Moonkyu starts, and Sungwoon nods, listening silently. “There’s this girl at work, and she told me she’s sort of had an interest in me for a while now, so I went on a few dates with her, and I like her a lot.”

“Go for it, then.” Sungwoon reaches for his drink, biting on the straw but not drinking, “Ask her to be your girlfriend. I’ll be happy for you. You haven’t dated in years.”

Moonkyu chuckles, leaning back in his seat, “I guess I will and yeah, you’re right. I just thought I’d let you know, since you’re my best friend and all. But you haven’t dated in years either,”

“That’s because I’m not looking for a relationship,”

“But people have probably caught your eye over the years, no? Especially in college?”

In his mind’s eye, Sungwoon briefly thinks of a certain equally vertically challenged thesis-saver, but he shakes the thought away and says, “Not really, no.”

It’s basically nothing, anyway.

**_  
  
_**

Taehyun thinks that he’s probably going to become a lazy bum after days of staying at home without anything to do. It’s too boring, too quiet, after living at a college dorm with two loud kids with him dancing and going out during pretty much all his free time.

He’s probably going to be jobless unless he gets his ass off of their house floor and out of the house. His sister calls him lazy, his mother tells him to rest as much as he want. Fortunately, it’s two o’clock on a lazy humid afternoon in the end of May when Taehyun’s phone buzzes with a notification.

It’s from Kenta, and it’s a text informing him that he and Sanggyun will be crashing at his house in approximately five minutes, and that they’re just trying to look for the street. In shorter words, they’re lost, and that fact is enough to have Taehyun get up and put his slippers on. He peeks from the door of the house while dialling Kenta’s phone.

Where did they even get his address? Did they really go to the college register just for that when they could have just asked Taehyun himself?

Surprisingly, but at the same time not really, Taehyun is dragged out of his own house by his two friends after them persuading him to come out with them especially since they came all the way. Taehyun had to stop them from picking him up and just carrying him by insisting he needed to change into more proper outdoor clothes and grab his house keys because no one wants to be locked outside a house. His mother would have his head.

The next thing he knows, he’s being trudged to a nearby playground he remembers going to when he was younger. Sanggyun tells him that they’ve been walking around for so long before finally contacting him and finding his house. He firmly insists that Taehyun should appreciate him and Kenta more as his very hardworking friends.

Taehyun just laughs and pushes Sanggyun’s arm away from around his shoulder. Kenta flounces over to the swings, his bright pink jacket obnoxiously bright, and sits down on one, but loses his footing and slips, landing on his butt on the dry grass

“Why are you both here, anyway?”

“Sanggyun missed you!” Kenta chirps while pushing himself up from the ground.

“Kenta missed you, too!” Sanggyun immediately says, his tone too defensive for normal. Taehyun snorts when he sees the red tint on the tips of Sanggyun’s ears.

“I missed you two, you idiots.”

Kenta brushes off the back of his jeans, suddenly grinning devilishly, his snaggletooth peeking out. “Taehyun! How about you return to college for a masteral degree?”

Taehyun promptly chokes and sputters over his own spit.

“I literally just fucking graduated!”

“Well, you’re jobless.” Kenta shrugs nonchalantly.

“Job hunting doesn’t take so little time, Kenta.”

“Exactly! So, go back to school!”

Sanggyun suddenly heaves a deep sigh, “Kenta, we weren’t supposed to jump it on like _this_. We were supposed to persuade him by telling him the various advantages he’ll receive by returning to school-”

“-One that includes rooming with us again-” Kenta cuts in.

“-and we can’t just drop a bomb on him like this, Taehyun will smack us.” Sanggyun finishes, then pauses for a second. “Or smack just you alone, I don’t know. You brought it up first.”

Taehyun firmly says no, he’s not going back to college unless the need for it really arises and he can’t find a job for himself within the next five years. Then he proceeds to slap them both upside the head, and jogs back to his house, the keys jingling in his pockets. Two minutes after he’s back inside the house, the doorbell rings again, and he ends up letting both Kenta and Sanggyun inside.

Kenta splays himself on the couch, and Sanggyun proceeds to look for Taehyun’s room. Taehyun follows Sanggyun wherever he’s going just in case he ends up messing up something just as Kenta calls out, “Where’s your sister and mother?”

“My sister’s out with friends. Mom’s at work.” Taehyun turns and calls back, walking backwards and suddenly sprinting forward and running into the room with the open door when he’s faced forward and Sanggyun’s nowhere. Sanggyun’s still nowhere inside the room but fortunately, it’s Taehyun’s room. “Sanggyun!”

Sanggyun suddenly peeks out from the small space behind the door and in between Taehyun’s closet, giving Taehyun what feels like the shock of his life. Sanggyun even asks, blinking innocently, “What?”

Taehyun just sighs. “Get out of my room. Why are you even there?”

Sanggyun blinks, but proceeds to slip out from the small space behind the door. Kenta’s properly sitting on the couch and fixing his fringe when they get back to the living room, and Sanggyun walks over just to push Kenta.

Taehyun lets out another sigh. He might have missed Sanggyun and Kenta over that period of time without seeing them, but they’re (read: Sanggyun) still one of the most childish people he might have ever met.

He thinks he can go without seeing them for the next few weeks or so. He’ll be perfectly fine without them for a while.

**_  
  
_**

Dinner with his family is sort of awkward. Moonkyu’s went back to where he has to be, and Sungwoon’s sitting on the floor across from his mother and beside his sister who just got home from school on their small dining table.

It’s a shock to his little sister especially when his mother clears her throat and asks, “Did you get yourself a boyfriend at college, Sungwoon?”

His little sister promptly starts coughing and Sungwoon pours her a cup of water, thumping her lightly on the back. She wasn’t old enough to understand Sungwoon’s sexuality before, only being in kindergarten, but he’s pretty sure she knows what their mother means by now and honestly, he’s not sure what to think. She probably won’t judge him, would she?

But first, he clears his throat as well, closing the lid of the water bottle before saying, “No. Just because I like guys as well doesn’t mean I’m limited to them only.”

After that, the three of them fall silent and it’s only when his sister has put her used dishes in the sink and left to go study in her room does his mother speak again, standing by the sink. Her words sound carefully phrased and thought out, so careful that even Sungwoon is taken by surprise.

“I accept you for who you are now, and I realized while you were away that I should have supported you from the beginning because you were only true to yourself, and me. I’m grateful you weren’t like those other college students who drink and break the law. I shouldn’t have shunned both you and Moonkyu out.”

Sungwoon’s throat becomes dry. He’s not sure what to say because what _is_ he supposed to say when his mother springs that on him while he’s wiping their dinner table? He’s not one who cries easily either, and he feels touched.

Well, honestly, he thinks he can cry right then, but that would be too strange, no? Especially when he’s holding a wet rag?

He does the first thing that pops up in his head. He drops the rag and walks over to his mother to hug her for what feels like the first time after a whole century. She’s stiff when he puts his arms around her, and Sungwoon guesses it’s the surprise because after a few moments, she hugs him back and he just cracks.

Sungwoon’s crying.

And he cries a lot.

(He’ll never admit that the event of him crying actually happened, though.)

It’s either the happiness or the relief, or maybe a combination of both. Maybe it’s the feeling and the warmth of receiving a hug from his mother after years of short phone calls and distasteful glances to both him and Moonkyu.

It’s been way too long. He missed his mother, to be honest.

His sister barges into his room at ten past ten later that evening, stands right beside his bed with her hands on her hips and asks if Sungwoon really does like guys. Sungwoon has to spend a large portion of an hour explaining to her what bisexuality is because she can’t really understand how a person can like both guys and girls.

Later on, she tells him that one of her male classmates told everyone he likes guys, and that everyone in the class started clapping. Sungwoon is amazed how nice children have become over the years.

**_  
  
_**

It’s much less awkward over the course of the next week, and Sungwoon thinks his mother has become very accomodating of him to the point that it become slightly weird. She’s the one actually telling him to go out and go on dates, and Sungwoon’s not really used to it.

The thing is, Sungwoon’s hasn’t dated in a while, and he’s never really been attracted to anyone over the past years enough to actually make the first move. He’d always rather be the one asked out than to be the one asking someone one out. He’s never made the first move before. (Well, once, he _did_ try to ask someone out, but that ended terribly. He’d rather not remember it.)

His mother does ask him, though, if he’s interested in anyone. Again, the image of a certain someone flits through his brain, and once again, he shrugs it away.

He’ll be honest. Roh Taehyun is attractive, but Sungwoon thinks they actually have a pretty good friendship going on at that rate, and he doesn’t want to ruin that. Not unless Taehyun is willing to give that a go, as well.

It’s so strange, to suddenly think about dating a friend. Taehyun _did_ say himself he’s not really that straight.

Sungwoon sits alone inside his room a little past midnight on a summer night, spacing out on his desk when the sudden realization, again, that he doesn’t really know that much things about Taehyun hits him. He does know things about Taehyun, but the things he knows and the things Taehyun knows about him aren’t really that balanced. Taehyun knows too much about him, now that Sungwoon thinks about it.

That’s probably one of the few things that push Sungwoon to pick up his phone and send Taehyun a short text at one in the morning that night.

**_hey, are you awake? a new moons out_ **

He sets the phone down after sending the message. Sungwoon isn’t expecting a reply at this time of night, honestly, even if he has noticed that Taehyun is occasionally awake and online at this time.

But it’s summer. The weather is hot and humid, and Taehyun is probably sleeping already.

Sungwoon doesn’t expect his phone to light up with a notification approximately just a minute after he turned it off. He doesn’t expect the notification to be a reply from Taehyun either.

**_yea im awake. its been awhile_ **

Ten seconds later, another message pops up.

**_no one heard this from me but i suddenly miss you_ **

The next morning, Sungwoon will swear his next message is actually his unconscious self texting, and that it’s the hot weather’s fault for turning his brain into mush.

**_tbh same, lets meet up?_ **

Strangely, after that, a new message doesn’t pop up as quickly as they did before, and Sungwoon sort of panics.

**_as friends i mean_ **

**_i uh_ **

**_i like talking to u_ **

**_and i wanna talk to you again in person_ **

**_not saying i want to see you but_ **

**_yea_ **

**_I think i do idk_ **

Maybe he panics a little too much, seeing the multiple messages he sent. And it’s really embarrassing, especially when Taehyun sends a long string of laughing characters with multiple laughing-crying emojis, and equally short multiple messages

**_you really are a panicked gay_ **

**_sure_ **

**_lets meet up_ **

**_are you free rn?_ **

But really, it’s the fact that Taehyun calls him a panicked gay that makes him even more panicked. The last message, too.

Sungwoon blunts. **_its 1am_ **

Taehyun sends another string of laughing characters.

**_ik_ **

**_but its summer why do you care if its 1am or 1pm_ **

And that’s how Sungwoon spends the next five minutes deciding on a place to meet with Taehyun while running around his room and looking for something decent to wear at a midnight meet. It’s not a date. Of course it isn’t. But he still has to look presentable, doesn’t he?

It’s nearing two o’clock when they meet up, and it’s at a twenty hours open fast food chain restaurant. Taehyun is dressed like he’s been out the whole day and hasn’t bothered to change into pajamas to sleep yet, looking casual with a black shirt and ripped black jeans, with a black beanie perched on top of his head. Sungwoon looks rumpled and terrible, wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of board shorts from the bottom of his closet.

Taehyun walks up to Sungwoon, who’s awkwardly standing in the middle of the sidewalk underneath a street light with his hands in his pockets. Taehyun raises a hand in greeting.

“I didn’t expect to be going out tonight.”

Sungwoon raises his eyebrows, “You look ready to go out, though.”

“Nah,” A grin splits Taehyun’s face, “I thought that if I’m going to leave the house this summer, I might as well look okay, right? Even if it is in the middle of the night.”

“I’m embarrassing.” Sungwoon lowers his gaze and takes his hands out of his pockets to motion to his entire outfit. “I look embarrassing,”

“No. You look very summer-y.” Taehyun counters. “I look ready to go out for a drink.” Then he suddenly clears his throat, “Do you, though?”

“Do I what?”

“Want a drink. Since we’re out and all, I doubt many food stores are open at this time.”

Sungwoon raises his head, looks at Taehyun with raised eyebrows, a finger pointing to the chain restaurant they’re practically standing in front of.

“This one is?”

Taehyun smiles sheepishly, hand suddenly reaching up to rub at his nape. “I’m not in the mood for fast food, though.”

Sungwoon freezes for a split second, then chuckles.

“Are you treating? I’ll come if you’re treating. If not, we can just go sit somewhere and like, talk. I don’t know. You suggested going out at one in the morning.”

Eventually, the pair of them end up aimlessly and silently walking up and down the sidewalk, side by side and hands constantly bumping each other’s. Sungwoon’s sweating buckets even if it’s windy, and Taehyun is actually saying he’s cold.

They don’t really talk much, but Sungwoon doesn’t think he wants it any other way. It’s not awkward, but it’s not purely comfortable, either.

Taehyun does abruptly stop walking at one point, though, grabbing Sungwoon’s hand all of a sudden and saying, “Thanks, by the way.”

Sungwoon doesn’t exactly know what he’s thankful for because there’s quite a long list of things he and Taehyun have went through together, from Taehyun’s song to Sungwoon’s thesis to graduation to the texts and everything, but he nods. A smile is slowly forming on his face as he pivots on the balls of his feet to face Taehyun, his heart palpitating and his hand probably sweating more than his face is.

“Thanks, too, for being my friend. I didn’t expect any of this, but it was a nice change.”

Taehyun doesn’t let go of his hand and just continues walking. Sungwoon’s not sure what to think or what to say, so he’ll leave the question for another day. There’s a whole summer ahead of them, anyway. There’s no need to rush.

****


End file.
